I just want to get back on the golf course! (screw basketball)

1 week + 1 day post op - this is gonna be a long road!

OK, here is the thumbnail sketch of my injury.  I was playing pickup basketball with some colleagues at work (I work as an administrator at a university in New Jersey).  I usually play at lunch time 1 time per week (though I hadn’t made it out there very regularly this summer).  About 15 minutes into the game (I was 1-for-1 from the field!) I made a fake to one direction, then a hard cut the the basket, and POP!  I was down for the count, and it felt, like many people say, as if someone threw a basketball at the back of my foot (or I was kicked).  Within about 10 seconds on the ground, however, I knew what had happened.  I’ve sprained my ankle before, even dislocated my shoulder (both playing b-ball) but this was completely different.  After a short trip to: 1) the campus health center (nobody was there to treat that day, as there are no students on campus during the summer; 2) the ER (my insurance company mistakenly told me that they would not cover non-life-threatening illnesses at the ER….so I left for urgent care); 3) urgent care (initial diagnosis); and, finally 4) the orthopaedic surgeon’s office for a splint and scheduled surgery (6 days later), I was pretty bummed. 

The surgery went well on Tues., 9/5, and though I was in some bad pain, of course, for about 2 days.  By day 3 I was off the pain killers, and by day 4 I was able to take a scheduled 90-minute flight to NC for a planned vacation.  My foot didn’t swell any more on the plane, thankfully, than it had the previous few days.  Still on vacation, and it has been a big adustment not being able to water ski, golf, etc. while I’m down here.  It has also been tough being pretty immobile, unable to carry things (including my 2-year-old son), while on crutches, etc.  My wife and the rest of my family have been amazing, but it is quite hard feeling so helpless and like a burden at times.  Hopefully this is a learning experience.

My surgeon says I’ll be in a fiberglass cast for about 8 weeks (maybe 10, hopefully not), then a boot for a while and PT.  The pain is pretty much gone, but I hate the constrictiveness of the cast.  I had one very minor slip going to the restroom in the middle of the night, but just felt a tingling up my leg for a little while, so I’m hoping no damage was done.  My guess is I would know it if I re-ruptured the tendon while in the cast.  Anyone else have any minor slip-ups while in the cast that made you worry a bit?  The last thing I can imagine is starting this process all over again.  I’m going to take things very conservatively, and just hope to get back to low-impact stuff like golf, swimming, and walking by late fall or early winter.  Just walking in a boot without crutches right now would be like heaven.

I enjoy reading everyone’s posts and this seems like a great support while going through this.

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