It actually DOESN’T necessarily take a bit longer! At least the rehab protocol used in that recent study (and 3 others also done in the past 3 years) are quicker than most of the rehab schedules of most of the ATR patients here, surgical or non-surgical.

You’ve been going pretty fast yourself, but it’s not clear that even that pace (or very close) wouldn’t work without surgery, if somebody worked as hard at it as you did. (I didn’t work very hard, and I skied pretty hard at about 4 months, to your 3.5 months, without surgery. And my AT never held me back, it was just the REST of my body that was whipped!)

There is a recent report from two Japanese surgeons (linked on my blog about all the studies) who use a new-fangled experimental suture technique and skip the cast AND the boot and go VERY quickly. And their patients seem to be keeping up very well, and getting remarkable results. Mind you, NOBODY on this whole website — and not David Beckham, either! — is getting that treatment, or that schedule.

So your statement sounds logical, and it may be true when the surgical “cure” gets optimized to maximum speed, but it’s not true of the normal surgery that’s usually done, and it’s certainly not true of the average rehab-protocol speed post-op.

Congrats on the ski trip, and Keep Healing!

I’ve always been a good speller, and never had to think about “heel” vs. “heal”, until I started blogging here. Now I stop and think each time I type either word (which is OFTEN)!

When the GD was pretty new to the household, I showed up with a boot, NWB, on crutches. Talk about terrified! (the GD, not me) They have a big island in the middle of their kitchen, and the GD walked backwards almost the whole circumference of that island in order to stay as far away from me as possible! Funny moves!

The second time, I was in the boot, but FWB, no cane or crutches. The dog still avoided me a bit, but it was a much more moderate response. The last time, I was in shoes, and the GD and I are pals now!

Of course, part of this could be the dog growing up and getting used to “strange” people (like me!), but I think some of it was the big sticks and funny boots.

About the missing 1.25 hours. There’s a great old story (maybe apocryphal) told about Charles Steinmetz (and Edison and a few other mechanical geniuses).

The old retired genius was asked to advise on a large misbehaving piece of equipment that had baffled the plant’s engineers. He studied it, marked an “X” on a spot, and left the engineers with detailed instructions on how to proceed. They fixed the equipment following the instructions, and it worked fine.

The genius submitted a bill for $1000 for professional services rendered. The bean counters told him they’d need an itemized bill for that much money. So he sent them one: $1 for marking an “X”, $999 for knowing where to put the “X”!

I figure it took them 1.25 hours to figure out where to cut and stitch! (That and the kidney thing. . .)

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But that DIY cast removal sounds SCARY!!

You know, the nifty tools they use to remove casts have finally bred DIY versions! They use a fine-toothed saw that micro-vibrates through such a small amplitude, that if (when) it encounters your skin, it just jiggles it, rather than cutting it. But the cast is so rigid, it can’t escape, so it gets cut. I think Dremel and others make versions of the thing now for “us”, with attachments to cut, or to scrape. Next time, promise me you’ll use one of those gizmos instead of the box cutters!!

Interesting thing about returning to PWB to make a transition with the heel lifts. My protocol calls for a return to crutches as needed when weaning off the boot. I decided I had ZERO interest in returning to crutches after I’d said goodbye to them, so I made my transition from full heel-lift to none gradual (over maybe a week), and I stuck a hinged boot into the transition from a fixed boot to 2 shoes. The crutches stayed leaning against the wall the whole time.

Good luck! I have a feeling that if your Ortho tries to give you a tongue-lashing over the boot, you’ll be able to handle it!