Here comes the pain! 12 hours pass - and all the blood vessels, stitched tendons, muscles and general tissue start aching.
Actually - less dramatic than I thought it would be - but still keeping me up and unable to fall asleep.

I swallow one painkiller tablet. Wait 3 hours. Nothing. Swallow another. Wait 3 more. Still Nothing.
Pain annoys the hell out of me, feeling as if my ankle is being tortured by the Spanish inquisition.

At 5am, I realize that a big guy like me (186cm; 93kg) - might need double the painkillers to get high.
So… I swallow two tablets.
The bliss!!! I fall asleep like a baby, waking 7 hours later with very little pain.

I honestly did not elevate my leg a lot - it didn’t feel swollen or uncomfortable, so I only rolled a huge winter blanket under the cast while sleeping to elevate it.

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The following days were much easier to cope with. Still couldn’t sleep for more than 2 hours straight - but the pain subdued more and more each day.
Not knowing what the tendon looks like inside the hard cast was my biggest concern, I am too curious.

Took it easy, did not misstep, nor put ANY weight on my cast. Scooting around on my computer chair, standing with my knee on a chair and so on.
I am a huge shower sucker (I consider it to be one of the greatest indulgences in life) - so showering was done with a trash bag, taped above my knee with a simple duct tape and tied by a shoe lace for extra security.
Not a drop of water ever got through!

Preface - many believe that Israel has the most advanced medical practices in the world, with a huge list of world-renown surgeons who hone their craft to perfection.

I didn’t really know why, until I went to my procedure.

It was so different and advanced compared to what I see being done in countries like US and in Western Europe (which are believed to have top health care systems) - that I was in awe.

I have seen a lot of surgery reports in Achillesblog.com - most people got butchered with the incision, got outdated stitching procedure and ended up with a 20 year old rehab program.

No disrespect to any of my ATR sisters and brothers - but I do want everyone to know how progressive treatment & reahab of ATRs look like in 2015.

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20 minutes - that’s what it takes to get into a private operating room and get prepped for the surgery.

God (or whoever) bless private health care and my ability to actually pay for it…

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In came my hand-picked Ortho-doc, asking if I want to watch my own surgery.

Sure I do! So he handed me the iPad and I got first seat in the audience to watch him dig into my ankle.

Local anesthetic is tingly (I would even say a bit painful) when the shot is made - but maaaan it makes you feel good once all the nerves go numb.

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Small horizontal cut, maybe 3cm wide (cannot get for the life of me why I see all these horrible vertical cuts which are 20cm long everywhere?!).

My doc used this tech clamp to pull the two ends of my mop-looking tendons together, needled 5 organic threads with loops through each.

Then took out the clamp, tied all loops together and stitched it up:

Overall procedure time - 34 minutes. Pain - almost negligible. Blood - barely a few drops. Feeling - great, to be honest.

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Got fitted with a solid cast (weights a ton) - cannot of course step on it or put any weight on it.

Post-op inspection, cast and stitches removal set in 1 week (notice the timeline, unlike most old-dated treatment approcahes - where you keep being in-cased in a full cast each post-op visit, up until 6 weeks on average)

You know an ATR when it happens.

I don’t get all the folk I read on the web, who said they have mistaken it for a partial tear or just pain for a few days (or weeks!).

No way - it snaps - you can feel the gap, and without even knowing what is the Thompson test, you can tell.

Its a fun feeling, when you try to use your torn AT: toes just drop into a void, as if your leg is gently falling inside a huge sinkhole.

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Walked back to my car (luckily I don’t own a manual and ATR is left sided) - drove myself home.

Took an awesome shower, headed to the ER, just to make sure Dr. Google and I got it right.

Dr. Night-shift & MRI both confirmed, put a light splint cast (back opened) and asked if I want to get into the waiting list for a surgery, or simply leave.

I picked the latter, since a waiting list for ATR repair might take 3 weeks (well, free health care system does have its drawbacks and ATR is NOT a life threatening injury).

The way health care works in Israel is extremely similar to the US, and I bet everywhere else - if you got some money/insurance for private med-care: you will get fixed much much faster and get better treatment while at it.

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Most believe that surgical ATR repair gives you less chance of re-rupture and faster recovery timetable.

Just what I want, so found the best 5 ortho-docs here, selected the one I liked most and scheduled a private surgery within 38 hours of the ATR.

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Bought myself crutches (about 150$) and a CAM walker boot (about 350$) - not fancy brands (just good quality UK made ones):

Wed: 10K at a 4:52 min/k pace, at age 36 - pretty darn good for an old fart like me!

Both tendons ache and cry the morning after - but who cares, right?

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Thu: A couple of hours on the court on my own, working on that crossover and vertical leap, can’t even dunk once. :((

Left tendon is feeling slow to respond and weak when I push off - man, I wish I was 15 years younger and slam this rock down…

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Fri: 6K at a 4:33 min/k - my hip bursitis is back, but I fight it through, as I have been doing the last two months it appeared.

I never run on Fridays, I always rest it off - but I feel I need to push myself more.

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Sat: Another b-ball pick-up game. Left AT bothers me at the start, but the physical pain goes away as my team keeps losing.

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Sun: 4K at 5:16 min/k - I am slacking, these bursitis pains are killing me - dammit.

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Mon: My lower body is screaming HELP!!! - both ATRs hurt like a motherf*, hip bursitis, right knee - whatnot, alright - let’s have a light shooting practice, listening to my beats.

3 on 3 finishes on the other court, a youngster approaches - says something (can’t hear the dude).

Beats off - he wants 1 on 1? Pssh. I’ll show him who got game.

6-4 my lead, he tries a long one, I leap forward to mess his shot.

Snap.