Well, tomorrow’s the big day.  Surgery to repair my poor achilles.

I’ve been in pain for a year now, so I’m looking forward to the end result.  I think I’m in denial about what my life will be like between surgery and full recovery.

In the wake of my “empty nest” I slowly became a runner.  It took me a long time to reach my first goal of 5 miles in an hour, so not winning any races, but eventually finished a couple of 10 k’s and sprint triathalons.  And felt like I was in shape for the first time in a long time.

So, I set my sights on a half marathon.  Last January, I went from running about 15 miles a week to running about 25-30 miles a week.  (I know, I know!)

After about a month of that, I was having pain in my right heel at the beginning of my runs, and then after I was finished.  I self-diagnosed plantar fasciits, iced, rested (a day or so!) and ran through the pain.

I happened to mention it to my doctor at a check-up, and he said that based on the site of the pain, it probably wasn’t plantar fasciitis.  He referred my to a podiatrist.

The podiatrist diagnosed achilles tendonitis, and prescribed an air cast, night splint, daily anti-inflammatories, and phsyical therapy.  I was faithful with the pills and the PT.  The night splint was too painful and I wore the air cast when I was walking a lot.  I continued running (with the PT’s ok) along with stretching and building strength in my ankle, flexibility in my hips, and core strength.

After my 12 weeks of PT, I was feeling less pain and starting slowly running.  Soon I was right back where I started.

Back to the doctor, back to PT for another 12 weeks.  This time, the PT did more massage of the heal, scar tissue, which seemed to help temporarily, but not for long.

At the PT’s recommendation, I saw an orthopedic surgeon, had an x-ray & MRI. The verdict was bursitis, a tear in the tendon, and a build-up of scar tissue–basically kind of a mess.  He recommended surgery, based on the amount of time and the number of things I had tried.  It would be 6 weeks non-wight bearing on my right (driving) foot.  I wanted a second opinion!

Back to the podiatrist, and with the new info, the same diagnosis and recommendation.

Then one more orthopedic surgeon, hoping for a different answer! 

Same answer about surgery, but with some glimmer of better news!  1) 95% chance of being able to run again in a year or so; 2) he’s using a tendon from my big toe for reinforcement which will decrease the recovery time……

The 3rd surgeon