12 weeks Post-Surgery
Hello to all the ATR community,
It has been 12 weeks since my surgery, as I mentioned on previous blogs, I did mine playing soccer on April 3 and underwent surgery 5 days latter.
Over this twelve weeks I have seen how things change so unexpectedly, I see small progress everyday, but the big milestones come only twice a month, until they come I find encouragement on the everyday small progress. I have been in PT for about 4.5 weeks and although they have switched therapists 3 times already, and I am almost never in contact with them (only with their subordinates who tell me what to do by reading some kind of instruction manual) I have come to make the best of this situation, because I have been able to do 30 reps when whey have asked for 20 only (since no one is paying attention). This way I am usually able to stretch my visit to 75 minutes.
Things have been going great, except for a small tendon twist (on one of the tendons next to the Achilles) during PT, which kept me one week away from doing heel raises. Two weeks ago I started doing my first assisted one leg toe raise. I have also been hitting my school gym really hard for the last three weeks and I have been able to drop 4 pounds of the 10 I put on. They have some really nice helliptycal machines that feel really good on my tendon.
My third Doctor visit was two days go, it lasted 5 minutes, I laid on my stomach and the Dr. grabbed and moved the tendon, while asking me if I feel any pain. He ordered six more weeks of PT and wants me to see him again after that. I did not asked him what new things I could do, because I knew He would say “Nothing.” I do not mind that, I am doing my on protocol.
My goals for the next weeks are:
-Although I can jog, I want be able to do it with out being afraid.
-Recover my aerobic conditions fully in six weeks, so that when my achilles is fully recovered I am ready to play competitively again. My anaerobic condition is going to take longer so I do not even think about it yet.
-Play soccer at 16 weeks, I probably will not be able to sprint yet but I want to be able to distribute the ball and move around. To do that I have to work a lot on stretching my tendon.
Thanks everyone for posting, I always find stories that keep me up when I become lazy about recovery. I hope you all are healing well!
Ern Said,
July 2, 2011 @ 12:18 pm
Luis,
I’m at 14 weeks post-op and have the same concerns as you about being scared. The last thing I want to do is re-rupture. I have been going to therapy from week one and have finally decided I can do the rest at home. I try not to push myself to hard and am not sure as what I am capable of. I can do the two leg toe raise but know that my good foot is doing much of the work.
However I have gained full range of motion with my foot I still encounter swelling and pain which I hope will some day subside. I do ride a bicycle and swim and this seems to help but I do not know if I can get the courage to try to run or even jog but I am sure it will come in due time. I wonder at which point a person will feel unhampered by the injury or the threat of it reoccurrring?
Well I hope you can attain your goals and be as close to normal as you once were!
luis Said,
July 3, 2011 @ 10:00 am
Ern,
Thank you for your good wishes!
It is difficult to figure out when to start doing something more challenging with a our AT. I have found out that It is my own body that sends me those signals, no my Doctor, no my PT, but my own body. I remembered on my first day of PT I was asked to do a one leg toe raise, I told the PT “no way” with out even trying.
About jogging, when I first did it, I did it with no desire of going back to jog again, I just wanted to see how the tendon would feel, but I noticed that It did not hurt at all so I started doing it more often!
Wish you a good healing!