I have to say weeks 6-8 I have made the biggest gains, both in confidence and the ability to get around.  I have slowly ditched the boot, I still wear it biking outside or if I am not in a controlled enviroment.  But, I am learning to walk again, stairs and hills are difficult but I am able to walk slowly and fairly well on flat ground.  The shoes I wear are Birkenstocks and running shoes, both feel fine and I am continuing to wear a compression sock which really does help!  The PT was surprised today on how well and not stiff my ankle is, I think it is because of the Vaco boot.

In Colorado and I was fairly limited in what I could do, no hiking or rafting and flyfishing not out of the realm but would be too much standing.  I was able to some swimming, biking, road not mountain and took a ride in a glider though it almost didn’t happen because my boot wouldn’t fit in under the controls.  It only worked because the bottom of the Vaco boot pops off, the views were amazing and it’s all sitting so no re-rupture danger.

The PT in Colorado told me a cautionary tale of a friend that decided to go whitewater rafting at 6 weeks post-op.  She was with him and he was going to walk the most difficult part of the rapids, when it came time to walk, he decided to try his luck, which seemed to have run out, because the raft flipped his boot was jammed against rock, the wound reopened and the achilles re-ruptured.  Luckily they were near help.  Just a reminder not try anything stupid.

Because a shower stool was not available, I began standing in the shower at 6 weeks 2 days, the PT had me standing the next day and shifting weight.  Over the last  2 weeks I progressed from 2 crutches walking with no boot, to one crutch to currently FWB no crutches, no boot most of the time.

The worst time is the morning after that I am pretty much good to go slowly.  I go back to work on Monday, which will be another huge change but I feel like I am ready.