Joan’s Summer on Crutches (and beyond)

Tomorrow marks the 10 week anniversary of my ATR  ( 9 1/2 weeks since surgery).

Three days ago, I ditched the compression socks and the ankle wrap and have been going completely support free.

I had a busy day at work yesterday, and walked about 4 times as much as I usually do.

Sometime during the afternoon, I realized that my ankle felt looser than it has.  There was no pulling in the calf and tendon, and no stiffness in the ankle bones and no pain when I walked.  I almost felt normal and was actually pushing off with my toes when I walked.

I think some of the scar tissue finally broke free and this is allowing me to move better.

When I woke up this morning, my ankle was still moving easily.  I didn’t need to stretch it out before I got out of bed.

It was so beautiful outside,  that I decided to go for a walk.

These are a couple of pictures from my MILE walk.

Yes, I walked a MILE in my tennis shoes!!!  No crutches, no ankle wrap, no support.  Just two shoes and two socks.

It took me 28 minutes of walking (with a 15 minute rest in between).

Now I am icing my foot.  I isn’t too swollen and there is just a little pulling in the tendon when I do my foot pumps.

What a great day!!

Joan

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I had an appointment with my surgeon today (7 weeks, 5 days post op) and he told me to "Throw that boot in the river" and go full time in two shoes.

He did clarify that I should watch out for uneven ground, not do any jumping jacks, and that I can use the boot again if it gets to be too much (ewww - it’s going to be all squishy because of the river water).

He also told me to have my PT push me as hard as I could handle.  My PT said that he is ready to start the strengthening phase of my treatment.

The different approaches to treatment really are amazing.  I constantly read about people using heel lifts.  No one has ever mentioned anything like that to me.  I guess I bypassed that stage and went straight to ‘walk’.

I have been walking around my house barefooted with no problems for a week or so now, and I keep a shoe in my office at work and walk around there also.  My leg feels weak, and I have to concentrate on using my foot correctly and to look straight ahead instead of at the floor.

I guess it really won’t be that big of stretch to start going everywhere in two shoes.  But, it still seems kind of frightening.

Joan

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I am feeling apprehensive about going to my PT appointment tomorrow, but not for the reasons that you might guess.

It is not because there might be pain involved, and it is not because I have been lax on doing my at-home exercises.

It is because I got tired of my crutches, put them away and have been walking without permission.  I feel like a teenager who has to confess that I wrecked the car.

It has been 7 weeks since surgery.  I spent the first 4 weeks in hard casts and  the past 3 weeks in a boot (kind of) NWB.  I have had 4 PT sessions so far.

My PT is kind of at a loss.  My doctor’s orders only stated "Achilles tendon repair".  The doctor is leaving it completely up to the PT to make all of the decisions.    The two PTs that I have worked with me both stated that they don’t see this injury very often.  The mainstay of this practice seems to be knee replacements.

The last time that I saw this particular PT was two weeks ago and he said that I shouldn’t put any weight on it at all until 6 weeks post op and to not be too anxious to walk.

I always make sure that I have my boot on when I leave the house, but I don’t use crutches.  Around the house, I go without the boot and just take small up-and-down steps.  I don’t push off with my toes - it is kind of a Frankenstein duck walk.  I don’t feel any pressure or pulling on my tendon and the pins and needles sensation on the bottom of my foot is long gone.

I have been reading other blogs, and don’t think that 7 weeks seems too early to walk in a boot.  Does it??

Part of me wants just to crutch in and let them think that I am following protocol, but I know I’ll just walk in with my boot and see what happens.

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