joelondon’s AchillesBlog

Hi everyone.

Thanks for reading.  This is my first post although I ruptured my left AT on Monday 19th July.  I have been reading other people’s blogs pretty regularly and have found them to be a great help. I’m 31 and live in London.

I ruptured my left AT playing 6-a-side indoor soccer.  I felt a sharp pain as if someone had kicked the back of my ankle, usual story, no-one behind me, hobbled off the pitch - game over.  I actually managed to walk home (very slowly), once home I put some ice on the foot, popped a couple of Ibuprofen and went to bed thinking it was just a knock and that I’d be ok in the morning.  The following morning I went to work as usual, limping heavily but not in much pain.  I decided to get my foot checked out at lunch and went to the local walk-in medical centre where the nurse took a look and told me to get straight to hospital as I had ruptured my AT.

At the hospital (Fracture Clinic) my ankle was put into an open cast, I was given some crutches and booked in to see the consultant on Friday 23rd July.  The consultant explained the 2 available options - surgery or no surgery - but recommended the surgery given my age (31) and that I wanted to return to sports activity as soon as possible.  I decided to go for the surgery and the operation was performed on Sunday 25 July.  I had done some reading online prior to the op so knew pretty much what to expect.  The op went well - I was kept in the hospital overnight and went home the following day with my leg in a fibreglass cast up to my knee and my toes pointing down.

I spent the following 2 weeks at home, resting up and keeping the foot elevated as much as possible.  I was lucky in that I felt almost no pain - just a mild itch at times.   The follow up visit with the consultant was scheduled for Tuesday 10 August.  He checked my wound - said it was looking good and healing well (I had the dissolvable sutures) and then the plaster technician put another fibreglass cast on having moved the foot ever so slightly towards the neutral position.  The consultant recommended that I did not return to work until my next follow up visit in 2 weeks when I would be given the aircast boot.

So another 2 weeks at home.  I’m lucky to have a wonderful fiancee who was been looking after me.

Returned to the hospital this morning for my 2nd follow up visit.  I did not see the consultant this time only the plaster technician.  The cast was removed and I was given the aircast boot (VacoPed).  The foot was set at 30 degrees and I was told that I could put a little weight on the foot when walking.  Having had the boot on for a few hours I must say it does make getting around a lot easier than the cast.  However it is very heavy and I have been told to keep it on while sleeping.

My next visit to the hospital is in 3 weeks on 14 September,  where I’m told that the plaster guys will move the foot to teh 15 degree position.  I won’t see the consultant until 5 October (10 weeks post-op) when my foot will be placed in the neutral position in the boot.  I was a little disappointed to find out that there’s every chance I’ll still be in the boot 12 weeks post-op.  Having read a lot of blogs on this site I was half-expecting to be in shoes around the 8 week post-op mark.

I’d appreciate your comments on whether you think I should try to bring forward my follow up visit with the consultant.  I really don’t want to be in the boot any longer than necessary!