7 1/2 Weeks Post Injury
Well, it’s been 7 1/2 weeks since I ruptured my Achilles. I still hope that the non-surgical treatment will be fine in the long run but I still have my doubts. Needless to say, I am making progress, albeit very slow progress. I am out of my cast and am still on crutches but I can put my foot flat on the floor and can move it to within a few inches of my left heel while standing up straight. I can not walk on it yet, but I can put some pressure on it. It does slow me down quite a bit though and sometimes I find myself picking my foot up to make better progress. I am still having pain in the middle part of the pad under my toes. Is this normal? I did end up having an MRI which confirmed that I had a partial where the Achilles meets the calf but it also showed a partial in my heel. This explains why I was initially having so much pain in my heel. The pain in my heel is pretty much gone but I still get sore in my upper calf and feel slight and infrequent muscle spasms. All part of the heeling process I suppose.
Sometimes I just want to scream as I pretty much lost patience on November 5th (a day after my injury). I still haven’t driven although I think I am very close. I have gotten extremely good on my crutches. I even walked around our Bio-Park to see a holiday light display. People were pretty amazed that I made it around the entire park, but I did. I didn’t really get tired, just extremely hot! It is very hard to regulate my body temperature on the crutches so half the time I go around wondering if it is indeed hot or if I am having hot flashes.
It has been very trying around our household as both me and my oldest daughter are on crutches. She had a planned surgery (planned before I injured myself) but this doesn’t make it any easier on my husband. I owe him a day at the spa after everyone is walking again. I think my daughter will be running circles around me though before I can even do a circle. I’m prepared for this, but I still think this is going to be mentally tough. I find myself watching people at calf level, envious and resentful. Then I take a deep breath and tell myself that I’ll get there. I’m too optimistic to let myself get down for too long. This has been a huge test though!