Aug 25 2011
Scan Results
Well to say I had been let down by the NHS was an understatement. Despite phoning the X-Ray department and my Consultant daily my URGENT scan appointment was on Thursday 18th August in the afternoon. So that was 7 days since my initial consultant appointment and 12 days since the injury. I was beginning to think that I had been neglected of a service I needed and if I needed an operation I was too late. Since I had been in full time employment since the age of 17 paying NI I was not amused. If only I had private cover or had the cash lying around for a private scan and operation I could have been seen the following day by another hospital 7 miles away.
I was told the ultra sound scans required expertise to read and this was the cause of the delay. Only certain people are trained to read achilles rupture scans. No idea if this is true or not.
Anyway, I had the plaster removed in preparation for the scan and my leg felt so weak and delicate I could barely rest it on the bed. They proceeded to scan my achilles and calf and this %!!*^& hurt - I was gripping the bed so hard at this point. Being inpatient I asked what they could see. They told me I had completely ruptured my achilles tendon and their was a 2cm gap, I guess this was what I was expecting ….however there was more, I had also partially torn my inner calf muscle. Great, but at this point I knew an operation was called for.
2 responses so far
2 Responses to “Scan Results”
There have been excellent results without surgery but you need to have people around you that know how to manage your rehab. I am a bit curious about the muscle tear. Does this indicate your tendon rupture was quite high and the muscle tore as well? Surgery can be very difficult in this area. With regard to the time frame, there are some doctors prefering to wait a bit longer before surgery as the intital scaring can help them align the tendon. You are certainly within the time frame for a good recovery but I can understand why you would want the process to get underway.
Good to hear positive comments about non-op.
My complete rupture of the tendon is above the ankle bone area just as the tendon disappears into the leg more and the partial tear of the inner calf muscle is just below the bulk calf muscle. It was the calf muscle tear that hurt the most in the first week.