My first achilles blog post
Well here I am, soon to join the ranks of hundreds here who have had Achilles tendon surgery. I am not among the majority who have had a rupture, my downfall has been slow coming, 2 years in the making. OS says I have a bone spur that is slowly shredding my Achilles tendon. "Like a rope unraveling". Surgery is scheduled for June 17…12 more days. It’s been both a blessing and a curse that I’ve had advance warning of the looming surgery. Good in that I have time to prepare, get all my chores done, sneak in a vacation to the Outer Banks, time to prepare the boyfriend for the many hats that he is going to wear. But it’s been a curse in that IT’S.ALL.I.THINK.ABOUT. I’ve had time to read dozens of blogs here, it’s been hugely informative, for example, I wouldn’t be getting a knee block if I hadn’t read someone’s post to ask for it.
It appears, based on all the blogs here, that my OS is pretty conservative; 3-4 months NWB, 3-4 months PWB, "hope to have you walking normally in 12 months". I hope to speed up his timeline a bit but I won’t really know what I am dealing with until after hearing the outcome and surgery details. I’m expecting a 10-12" scar, initially I assumed it was be 4-6", not for vanity but such a large mass of infection real estate.
I’ve done my homework, I think I’m ready, I know I’m ready.
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Good Luck with the surgery. Mine was a rupture last Tuesday. No warnings so I didn’t get all the chores done or a holiday. I’m sure you’ll be fine, these surgeons have performed lots of these. We just need to be patient with recovery I think, no matter how long it takes. Take care.
You’re sure that timing is in MONTHS?!? It would be pretty far on the slow side of Best Practice in WEEKS — see, e.g., achillesblog/cecilia/protocols for three modern protocols that produced great results with ATR patients with no sutures (non-op). There are a bunch of studies linked from this site’s Studies and Protocols page (see Main Page), comparing the results of “early weight bearing” and other ways of saying faster vs. slower rehab. NONE of the studies, AFAIK, show any benefit of goin gslower than the three Cecilia summarizes and links.
BTW, I think you’re exactly right about the blessing and curse. Especially if you really do follow a slow-as-molasses way-too-long rehab, you’ll have tonnes of time for you AND your boyfriend to consider that you did this all by CHOICE, as elective surgery! That’s a pain that we ATR folks escaped with the sudden “pop” that largely chose our future plans for us.
I haven’t paid quite as much attention to the Haglunds-bone-spur crowd here as the ATR crowd, but my impression from the stories I’ve read is that there are mostly two sub-crowds: Some undergo an operation that separates the AT from the heel bone then reattaches it (usually with screws) after the deformity is cleaned up, and others (maybe a minority) get an op that leaves the AT attached to the heel=calcaneus. On average, the former group seems to go through rehab at roughly the speed of the ATR crowd (which varies HUGELY from Doc to Doc, hospital to hospital, region to region, country to country, but hardly at all from patient to patient within each Doc’s practice). The latter group often recovers a bit faster than the fast end of the ATR crowd.
I’ve never even heard of 6-8 months before FWB, and offhand it sounds like Cruel and Unusual Punishment. As you can see from Cecilia’s compilation, we’re not talking about small differences here. The OS who operated on my first ATR was way conservative/slow (though not THAT slow), and I found that several other of my body parts were getting into real distress by the time I got to FWB. E.g., I spent a lot of time kneeling on my bad-side knee (at sinks and counters), and that knee started “blowing out”.
Purely conjecture, but I wonder if you could correlate days spent NWB/Casted with the number of days you need to spend in therapy before you get back to acceptable functionality.
Probably everyone here would agree, surgery or non surgery, you should get a second opinion on that 3-4 months NWB because there is a lot of evidence saying that will be extremely detrimental to your recovery.
Thanks for the comments. I highly doubt I will follow the protocol the OS has laid out, I will have plenty of time over the next couple of weeks to read many more blogs and Cecelia’s protocols and make an informed decision as to when to start PWB, I just sit in the OS office and nod my head and think to myself ‘no way’ LoL.
OK, mixed, but it’s pretty rare to have somebody starting out on this kind of journey with the intention of (+ or -) ignoring their OS’s directions. Do you have way more faith in his surgical approach than you do in his rehab prescriptions and his currency with the literature?
Many of these programs hit potholes and detours, and your OS should be your most trusted advisor if you have pains or fears or questions. This sounds like it could be a prescription for tears, no? If there’s a chance you’ll be looking to switch OSs later (as a few people have done around here), I’d recommend doing it now instead.
Its always conceivable that one human being could be a genius with scalpel and needle (& diagnosis and planning…) and completely up to date on THAT literature, but many decades out of date on rehab. But it would be pretty weird, no?
“Mixed” is what autocorrect did with “mozer”, sorry! (AJAX Editing in the settings is the solution.)
Hi Mozer
I had the same surgery as you on May 27th. I hope to post a summary of my surgery experience before you go under the knife. I haven’t seen it yet, but my scar is apparently only 4 cm long. Two weeks in I am having good days and bad, but no regrets. My only advice would be to make the most of the time before your surgery to do all those things that will become difficult in the next few weeks (wearing long pants, carrying anything, going up and down stairs, sleeping, having conversations without discussing the much more serious surgery, side effects and subsequent miraculous recovery of friends and their acquaintances etc). Most importantly, be very nice to the boyfriend. Without the patience and support of my wife, the first few days would have really sucked! Good luck.
surfpdc, thanks! I look forward to reading about your surgery experience, each day closer brings more anxiety. Stairs are a big concern, the bed and shower are upstairs, but I won’t be tackling it for a few days post op, boyfriend and I have joked about whether I will be cranky, I will be trying my best to be a pleasant patient, and he has my mother to come take the grief if it gets rough
Some of us walked stairs OK on crutches, though many couldn’t handle it. RyanB has a video of a technique he used which looks amazing if you’re athletic enough to do it. I’ve posted a few little tips that make it easier and safer, though still neither easy nor 100% safe. But more people still land badly while crutch-walking on the level (e.g., on a wet floor) than on stairs…
I also have a bone spur that is shredding my tendon…Im scheduled for my surgery July 9th 2014. This is my second time having this procedure, 1st on my left foot 5 years ago and although it was a rough recovery I gained my life back!! I was non weight baring for 6 wks in a boot however this time dr. said only 1-2 weeks of non weight baring which is much better news! My biggest fear is the nerve block they gave me with my 1st surgery , I could not feel my leg so as I was walking into my yard with crotches I could not feel my let and my boot came down and I fell….I was so scared I tore something but I didn’t thank god! Now Im afraid of the same thing happening again! I was told I didn’t have to have the nerve block but I would have instant pain after surgery so I don’t know what other choice I have! once I got inside i wheeled myself on a computer chair…(thank goodness live on one floor home) any recommendations to ease my mind??
Well I had my surgery yesterday 7/9/14 of course the pain has been intense through out the day but I will say that My knee scooter saved my life!! Makes things much more easier to do with nwb. Dr. stated next week after I see him I can put weight on my foot…..I sure hope! Just glad it’s over now im on the road to recovery!
I am almost 2 weeks post op and my Dr. removed my stitches 8 days post op and used strips over the incision. I am in a boot with wedges and its very hard to keep balance I am allowed weight baring. The scooter has really helped me be mobile and I don’t know what I would do without my shower bench! I don’t go back to dr. until aug 21st and at that point they will take out a wedge from my boot. Told me I should be completely out of my boot by end of september. I just keep moving along!!
Lovey - that’s great that things for you are happening fairly quick, out of the boot by 1 October !! I was told the boot I was given was the one I would ‘eventually’ walk in, but it has no wedges. My next appt is 13 Aug - 8 wks post op, I am crossing my fingers we’ll talk about some weight bearing!