Posted on August 22nd, 2014 by justinw
Just a quick update. I had surgery yesterday to clean up (deride) my tendon and augment with the FHL tendon from my big toe. Arrived at 8:30am EST and got home at 8:00pm EST. Long day but I was happy to be able to sleep in my own bed as opposed to the hospital. According to the Dr., he removed an additional 30% of the tendon (20% removed in the first surgery), leaving 50%. He mentioned that the FHL tendon alone is approximately 80% the strength of the achilles so I am hopeful that between that and the 50% of the achilles remaining that I will have a great recovery (fingers crossed)! He said that this will bring increased vascularity and blood flow to the area which will help address the poor blood flow that resulted in the tendinosis.
Sent me home with some Percocet which has so far managed the pain nicely. Go back to him on 9/3 to remove sutures and will then move into the boot. Will keep you all posted!
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Posted on July 24th, 2014 by justinw
Hi all -
In late 2010 I ruptured my left achilles tendon playing basketball. I had surgery to remove a bone spur, reattach the achilles to the bone, and some debridement. Surgery was successful and recovery was great. I returned to basketball about 9 months later. On 1/9/2014 I had surgery to remove a bone spur and debridement of the achilles tendon on my right foot. Unfortunately, it has not healed and I am in quite a bit of pain. The followup MRI confirmed that the tendinosis remains. I had a PRP injection June 2014 but that did not have any effect. My doctor is now recommending a FHL tendon transfer to augment/reinforce the achilles tendon. I got a second opinion and that Dr. said to have Cortisone injections but everything I have read said that that is not the right thing to do.
I am looking for feedback from anyone who has had the FHL tendon transfer. I am 35 years old and from what I see this surgery is mainly done on people over > 50 years old. For those of you that have had it, how has recovery been and what is the functionality like after? The Dr. said that I would regain all functionality and that the only impact would be that I could not curl my big toe but that I wouldn’t even notice.
Thanks in advance for the help!
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