Posted on May 3rd, 2010 by pietrzak
One year after my rupture I am doing fine. I went back to basketball after 7 months and gradually got back into it, and now play full court well, maybe just lost a step going down court and don’t jump as well, but I have white man’s disease anyway. So hang in there, you CAN go back to your previous activities and have just as much fun. And every dark cloud has that silver lining. While laid up, I finished my first book, it has been published. Check it out if you like American history, the title is The White House In Mourning: Deaths and Funerals of the Presidents in Office. Good book.
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Posted on December 9th, 2009 by pietrzak
Yesterday, 7 months and 7 days after my surgery, I returned to the scene of the crime, back to basketball. I played for a shorter period of time and not as intensely, and I came out of it uninjured. Definitely a little rusty. This morning I just have the usual soreness, not anything in particular in the foot/leg except for a tiny amount of heel pain that passed once my blood started circulating. I did not do anything special after playing, just hit the showers as usual and headed home.
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Posted on November 2nd, 2009 by pietrzak
Yesterday marked six months since my surgery to repair the tendon. Four weeks hard cast, 5 weeks walking boot, 12 rounds of physical therapy. The six month mark seems to be the time to resume normal activities, the physical therapist cleared me to start running at the 4 1/2 month mark and I did, first on a treadmill, then on the street. I am up to 1 1/2 miles, just a little pain dep in the ankle that quickly goes away. I would rate the recovery at 95%+. The main think is the calf muscle gets tired or a little weak after too much vigorous activity. But I was told at the 4 1/2 week mark that I could also start a little basketball workout, but to ease into it gradually which I have done. Everything seems fine with my movement and jumping, but psychologically it’s a hurdle because I torn the tendon coming down after jumping for a rebound. I hope to join the boys for basketball in early December, but to try a shorter time, not the full 1 1/2 hour series of pickup games. And to stop at the least bit of discomfort. good luck to me.
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Posted on July 12th, 2009 by pietrzak
Fuuny thing, but yesterday as I was walking around I unconsciously started walking with a normal gait. I mean with the hurt right foot I started pushing off with the front part of the foot, as you do when you naturally walk. This happened without me thinking about it, as if my body decided it was time to start walking normally again. But I did not push it, don’t want to go too fast. But that is fuel for optimism for me at the 10 1/2 week mark.
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Posted on June 30th, 2009 by pietrzak
Saw the Doc today 2 months after surgery and everything looks and feels fine, I am progressing normally, right where I should be. I stopped wearing the boot a week ago for the most part, gradually walked more each day without it. I am very careful not to bend the joint too much, use a cane most of the time. It gets a little better every day. the sensitivity in the incision area gets a little less each day. I am supposed to keep on like I have been, step by step, no PT for another month. I wonder if I will even need it by then. I have the green light to resume normal driving, just get used to braking with right injured foot gradually.
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Posted on June 14th, 2009 by pietrzak
Two days ago, my 11th day in the boot I started using a cane instead of crutches. And I am doing fine. yesterday I used the cane exclusively except when I had the boot off, about an hour before bedtime and and hour or so after I wake up. I am feeling miore optimistic about the whole recovery thing. A good deal of the time I walk without crutch or cane, but using the cane lets me walk a little faster.
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Posted on June 11th, 2009 by pietrzak
I am scheduled to try wearing street shoes in 2 1/2 weeks, but the incision area is still extremely sensitive to the slightest touch. I get a stinging pain. I cannot imagine gouing to street shoes in 2 1/2 weeks as scheduled. Maybe 2/ 1/2 months. Anybody with any comments on pain at the incision area wearing shoes? When does it go away? Seems like it never will.
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Posted on June 6th, 2009 by pietrzak
This is my 4th full day in the boot. After my first day, putting weight on it and using one crutch a good amount of time, the heel was painful at night. So I went back to 2 crutches the next day 3/4 of the time. The next day was much better, one crutch 90 % of the time, but that night I woke up in bad stabbing pain in the heel that lasted for about 5 minutes before settling down. Today I am back to two crutches most of the time. Tom’w I will go to one crutch and put a lot of weight on the boot. Maybe it is good to go hard at it one day and then ease up the next, at least for the first week or so. I have learned to have patience and walk slowly on the boot and one crutch, realizing that what used to take 10 seconds to do will now take 4 times longer, at least for now.
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Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by pietrzak
Yesterday June 2, 32 days after surgery, the cast came off. What a relief. Of course now I am wearing the boot. I did not see the doc, only the Physician Assistant. She said wear the boot all the time even to bed, take it off to shower and do some exercises, writing out letters in the air with the foot. PT is a no-no till I am off the boot in 4 weeks. She said I could drive, take off the boot, use the gas pedal with the hurt foot (the right) but break with the left. Then put the boot on when you get out of the car. But I am not all that fond of driving, so I do not miss it much. Anything important my partner can drive me there. I actuaaly was doing some gardening today, I can walk with one crutch, but not for too long. Nice to have a free hand to carry something. After an hour of the gardening, my hamstring felt strained and the heel area started to bother me somewhat. I am wondering if anyone has any hints to get this recovery on the way. I was told to wean myself off the crurches, then in 4 weeks I can try shoes. I am wearing 1/2 inch lift in the boot, she said do that all the time, the whole 4 weeks. Seems like I should be in some sort of progression here, 1/2 inch lift, then 1/4. And after a while a somewhat more aggressive exercise. Any tips?
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Posted on May 18th, 2009 by pietrzak
It is now 20 days since the injury and 17 days since the surgery. Life has pretty much settled into a routine. I am still not pain free, but it seems to get a little better every day. A big part of the pain is the darn cast, finding a position in which the pain will be less or not bother me at all. I still get the occasional twinge of sharp pain in the rear of the foot. I try not to watch too much television or sit in front of the other boob tube (this computer). My time outside consists of the occasional foray out in the car with my partner but for the most part it is sitting on the patio and hopping around on the crutches once in a while looking at the gardens that I should now be working on. Wow, my pectorals are really developing using these crutches. My upper body strengthen was almost non-existent previously.
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