Post-op, Day 3
Yesterday my wife and son took me on a late afternoon excursion to Costco. I was looking forwar to using one of the electric carts and drag racing down the aisles. The catrs were all in use. I was relegated to a mere wheelchair which I soon tired of. Got up and made why way on the crutches. The best par about the outing, besides doing something ordinary and normal, was that I didn’t seem to have any ill effects - no pain, no swelling, really, no nothing. So, when I got home I called my doc and asked him if there was any reason that I shouldn’t go to my office. He said that if I felt all right that I should go for it.
So, here I sit at my desk in my office in lower Manhatten blogging away. At some point I’ll actually try to do some billable work. And, I’m not going to push it; I’ll go home on the early side. The most amazing thing thus far (and I hope I don’t jinx it) is the absence of pain. I was expecting signficent discomfort if not outright pain. How can you have a 3-4″ incision on the back of you leg and not feel it? All I can say is, so far, so good.
On the excercise front, I just spoke with a colleague who , a number of years ago, was in an accident resulting in among other things, a broken leg, broken ribs and collarbome. She wasn’t even able to use crutches. Her doctor told her that you lose 5% of muscle tone and strength every day you lie in bed and do nothing. She started lifting weights with her good arm and leg almost immediately. Last night I did a bench workout with weights; dumbbell presses, pectoral flies, seated shoulder presses and bicep curls. I used lslightly lower weight than before the ATR but did more reps. It felt great.
I have also found that my appetite has decreased since the injury. I guess that it is a function of a lower activity level. All in all, I want to come through this process without gaining weight. Six and a half years ago I lost almost 100 pounds and have maintained my weight ever since. I don’t want to head back to all of the problems associated with being overweight.
Time to do some productive work. I’ll try to update the blog later.
Filed under: Post-surgery and
great to here that you’re back to work. Make sure you are elevating. Don’t be alarmed if you notice some swelling as the day goes on. Best to go slow and steady with this. I was back to work 4 days later and there was swellig up and down throughout the day.
Start billing and I’m sure you’ll really feel good.
Doc Ross
My office staff has been great. They have arranged contraptions all around my desk and computer station to allow me to elevate my leg. Nex to the computer they’ve placed an upside down waste baskket with two of those foam back support cushions on top so that it’s the same height as my desk chair. And the U shape of the cushions provides a cradle for my leg. It seems to be quite effective. I also have a couch in my office on which I may lie down and actually elevate my leg above my heart.
Michael - Great to hear that you are doing well. As much as work can be a pain in the ass sometimes, it seems to be a great distraction to take your mind off of the achilles injury. Just make sure to keep elevating the leg as much as possible. Like Ross said, the swelling will probably vary throughout the day.
Michael - Glad to hear that you are back at work and everything is fine. “you lose 5% of muscle tone and strength every day”, that’s really a compelling piece of information.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Btw, I setup your Achilles Timeline for you. If you want to remove it (or move it to another place in the sidebar), you can do it from Presentation->widgets and drag the ATR Timeline to the bottom (to remove it) or another sidebar (to move it).
Michael -That’s great. I really had to keep my leg up at day 3, Costco would not have been an option. For the first 5 days my appetite was way down also, and continues to be somewhat. That’s OK because I don’t need any extra baggage right now.
Jim
Dennis -
That 5% number certainly got me to sit up and take notice. Of course, that’s for someone literally laying in bed like a vegetable. But, it enough to make me one to drop to the ground and “give me 50″.
The bottom line, I think, is to resume as much of ones normal activities as you can as fast as you can without further injury or compromising the healing process. Active people should stay active and adapt the activities as necessary. That’s certainly what I’m trying to do.
Michael..you got me on the floor doing pushups again today. I am 3.5 weeks post op…and have been doing light upper body workouts just a few times per week. I was suprised at my reps of pushups I could do still….I think the crutch work has really kept the upper body in better shape than I thought.