michelle153’s AchillesBlog

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Overview of my whole experience

December 17th, 2012 by michelle153

I suffered a ruptured ATR on the 28th of June while playing netball on the hard courts. I didn’t stretch or warm up prior to my game, unaware of what the consequences were. Unfortunately, the facilities on a remote island (though very beautiful) are insufficient so the Doctor and physio as well as myself just had to make do with what we have. I did not have moon boots or any other kind of boot for that matter. We don’t have massage therapy (equipment or personnel), or any mobility aids other than crutches. No fancy stuff. After my surgery on the 3rd of July i was put in a back-slab which is plaster that is only applied from the bottom of my foot near the toes and just over my ATR; and no plaster over the top of my foot or leg. That caused a lot of issues for me - the plaster would move around a lot and it didn’t hold my foot in a downward position like it’s supposed to. But the Dr. recommended we do this rather than a full cast (me being naive, i listened). My appointment was postponed from the 6th to the 11th of July. When i finally went up for the checkup we found that the skin around the wound was decaying, the flesh was white and didn’t hold very well. Therefore, almost all the stitches came out due to an infection and the wound was opened due to the unstable cast moving around on the stitches. That was the last time we were consulting that Dr. my mum would say so we visited another and made an appointment. He gave me the option of stitching it again or just using steristrips to hold the two ends of skin together. He highly recommended the steristrips because he didn’t want me to go through the pain again, and neither did I. the wound itself healed a couple of months later. In the meantime we had to drain the fluids in my leg manually (OUCH!) whilst applying antibiotics to help and mum would squeeze the 2 pieces of skin together while my partner quickly put the strips on. I used the sea a couple of times to practice walking when I was around 16 weeks post-op (roughly). Other than that i learned to walk on my own, i started off standing on it with minimal weight and slippers with heels (as i said - no fancy stuff). It took me about another month to walk with confidence without the crutches and another month after that to walk without a limp. My key method was to listen to my body; if it got sore or swollen i would sit for a few minutes and try again. If it got too sore i would call it a day and put my leg up to reduce the swelling.

Nowadays, there’s no swelling at all and i walk with no limp and tippee toe on my ATR just a week ago. Though that does NOT go to say that I don’t need more work on it. My muscles are still weak. I visited a physio on a work trip in Fiji where she told me my ATR Achilles was slightly lengthened because i didn’t have the full cast for 6 weeks immediately after surgery. The wound is still vulnerable to tearing even now (6 months later). I haven’t started running yet because running shoes could re-open the wound (and the physio specifically told me not wear running shoes yet). At the moment my family and I are grateful that i can walk, in time for Christmas.

Tips: it is a very long hard road to recovery, my family and partner were the best support anyone could ever have asked for. They helped me get through. Keep yourself motivated however possible and listen to your body. I kept telling myself: "One day, you’ll look back at this day and say - you made it". And that’s exactly what i tell myself now.

I wish you all a safe recovery.

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4 Responses to ' Overview of my whole experience '

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kkirk said,

on December 18th, 2012 at 12:20 am

Good advice. I’m 9 weeks post op and don’t think my recovery would have happened this smoothly without the help of my friends and family. I have many good people to repay favors to. Happy healing to you also.
Wenda said,

on December 18th, 2012 at 8:30 am

I live in South Africa and I ruptured my AT exactly 43 days ago(yes, you start counting days when this ‘thing’ happens to you!). I am in a boot fot the past 2 weeks after being in 2 plaster casts for 4weeks after the op. I had percutaneous surgery(3 smaller horizontal insisions). I am PWB but taking it easy. Ialso do ROM exercises. What really fascinates me is the vast amount of rehap protocols on every blog about AT. Some are very conservative, some very aggressive. How is it possible that they differ so tremendously. It also seems that the more aggressive rehab seems to be the more successfull. I honestly hope ortho surgeons can polish up and start using a more uniform protocol. I am completely confused. I think I have a adhesion of one of my wounds. I am massaging it and hoping it will heal by itself. Going for first physio on 3jan. This is a long road we are all on. Lucky for some, they are almost at the finish line. Good luck to all!
doryt said,

on December 18th, 2012 at 12:35 pm

Hi Michelle, Did you have your baby yet? That should be the highlight of your recovery that your not towing a baby while on crutches. Best to you and what a beautiful place you live in. I’m an avid sailor and dream of sailing the South Pacific. Not that Soutrhern California is not a nice place, too many people and never a solo wave to catch or seculded island to sail to. Merry Christmas!
normofthenorth said,

on December 18th, 2012 at 4:37 pm

Thanks for the beautifully written overview Michelle. Sounds like you’re on the right path, sorry about all the detours along the way. We’ve had a few posters here over the last couple of years facing ATR challenges in out-of-way spots — though I think you win THAT prize!

Good luck!

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