Jun 27 2009
One Year Update
Wow, this website posting area sure has changed since I last posted in January…looks great Dennis!!! Anyway, I actually had my one year surgery anniversary on June 4, but have hesitated to post because I was expecting to be able to do more by now and am a little embarrassed at the lack of my progress….oh well, I have found some strength today to admit, “outloud” where I’m at in this point of my recovery.
I have been checking in to see mostly the updates on people around my time of rupture…. I can’t believe that I was the 45th person to log into this awesome site, and now there are over 400 others who have joined since. Let’s start with the good first….the tingling and numbness, in my foot, that I had been experiencing has gone away! Now, for the not so great, but better than nothing…. I walk without a cane, but still slow and with a limp…the rest is pretty much the same as the last time I posted. Still wearing trainers/tennis shoes. I have a hard time walking for any period of time, without the ankle getting sore and tired. The scar is sore while stretching, and I get strange twinges of pain in and around the ankle occasionally. Mainly am depressed that I am limping and that’s what is causing me to not get very far walking-wise.. I am scared this is as good as it is going to get. I don’t want to accept a limp for the rest of my life because of this injury. Oh, and another thing that is a pain in the butt — I cannot walk barefoot. The foot is weak, and the scar stretches and hurts without the support. I wear crocs in the shower to support my foot, also. I need a shoe on for support so the ankle doesn’t hurt as much. Well, there you have it…I see so many positive posts and I hate to be a downer to those of you who are new, but everyone’s story is different, as is everyone’s healing process. I was excited to read a post today about how people can still see improvement 2-3 years down the road, so I’m hoping that I might just be expecting to much of my out of shape body to be fully recovered after one year….maybe the one year mark isn’t for everyone???
Thanks again, so much, Dennis for this site…so glad to see it grow. And to Marianne2, yep, I saw you :-), all the best to you!! Love to see all of you still posting at the one year mark….helps me to put things in perspective. Happy Anniversary to me :-) This July 2nd, I’ll be turning 51, and will actually be celebrating with a family party, unlike last year, when I turned 50, in bed with my leg elevated….woohoo!!!!
Happy Anniversary Marianne,
I too sometimes get a little depressed at my lack of progress. I still get swelling after long walks, I still have no calf muscle and I cannot do heel/calf raises. I still limp a little and every now and then I get a sort of strange pulling feel around the achilles plus I have a lot of very thick scar tissue, so I know how you feel. My rupture was in April 2008.
I will be 60 in a few weeks so I have put my lack of progress down to age. But saying all that, today I have been climbing up long ladders and cutting down large tree branches, went up the ladders very slowly and carefully but I did do it.
I have been wondering if I should go back to the doctors again, Smish suggested I might have had the achilles sewn back too long hence not being able to do heel raises. Anyway, I will see.
So there you have it, lets not get depressed, we can walk some people cannot so we have to be thankful for that.
Lets hope progress is still going to happen for us all. I have heard rumours that something is planned for my 60th birthday but I will pretend I haven’t heard anything just in case nothing does happen!!
Good luck
Annie
marianne - congratulations on your 1 yr recovery anniversary! Keep up with the PT and keep us posted!
Well done Marianne.
Most of the progress from the ATR has gone by unnoticed, I occasionally just realise that I’ve done something I haven’t done since last July (reaching in a cupboard I realised i has lifting myself up on my bad leg……..Single heel raise - check!). I now am quite sad and show off this awesome party trick when someone asks me how my leg is.
Keep the faith,
Jon