tomgr’s AchillesBlog

And I am back on the road to recovery. The Cellulitis is gone, but I am still dealing with some residual swelling in my leg. The inicision is finally healed. Jsut have some very rough skin around it. I started walking again in the evenings to try ot get back into shape. I still have a very long way to go with that, but gotta crawl before you can walk.
Wanted to thank everyone who has provided nothign but support and optimism since I joined here. I appreciate it very much.

Tom

The good news is that everything is fine with the tendon. No reinjury after rolling my ankle. Now the bad news…….I contracted cellulitis in my leg above the incision. The leg was really swollen above the incision and painful to the touch. I pointed this out to the doc and he didnt think anything of it. The next evening, I was in bed, with my lower leg, bright red, elevated, fighting a fever of 103. Called my PCP this time and he prescribed me 2 different antibiotics. Saw him later in the week and the infection is slowly getting better, and he told me the infection made its way in through the open incision. He told me to put an antibiotic cream on it and keep it bandaged up, and lo and behold, the incision is finally closing up, after being told for months by my ortho to leave it open so it can heal. The swelling and redness are almost gone in the leg now, but walking still is a bit painful. Just another small detour in the road to recovery. Once the infection is gone, I hope to resume skating so I can play hockey again.

Well,

I keep experiencing setback after setback. Its been almost 6 months since the 2nd surgery and i still have the small pinhole at the top of the incision and it seeps a bit each day, and now to go along with it, I seemed to have developed an infection again.  I texted the doctor who did the surgery and told him what was going on and he said “Sounds like we might not have gotten it all last time.”  Im going to present him with the possibility that i am allergic to whatever they used as a wrap around the tendon. Im just tired of this. Its going on 10 months and I still havent been able to do anything other than walk and deal with setbacks.

Well,

Its now 2.5 months after the surgery to clear up the infection and pull the sutures out of the tendon, and i am still having issue with the incision healing. It healed from the inside out, but it seem the last layer of skin doesnt want to fully close. Starting to get really frustrated. I am relegated to 1 shoe and 1 sandal, because the sandal is the only comfortable thing on my foot. I am starting to wonder if im going to need plastic surgery to fully close the wound.

I am really hating these crutches around this time of year in the snowy and icy weather. Have already had a few close encounters with some slippery steps and sidewalks. Plus I have to finish my shopping too. Ugh. The crowds and the crutches should make for a fun trip.

I think the one thing that i am most bummed out about is that I have to miss our annual christmas eve hockey game. One of the few things I really look forward to this year. And I am stuck being a spectator. At least I can go and document it, but would rather be playing. Will just have to shoot for next years get together.

I am 2 weeks out of surgery to clean out the infection and tendon suture removal. The wound isn’t healing as fast as the doctors think. So instead of being off the crutches, I am on them until further notice, with the stitches from the most recent surgery still in there till the incision completely heals up. I am back to NWB and the doctor was nice enough to give me his cell number so I can send him a picture of the wound every week so I don’t have miss work to come into the office.

So the holding pattern continues…..

Went to see the Doctor last Thursday for what was to be the last followup from the surgery. The doc looked at the abscess and said "I want to get that opened up, in the OR." Not news I really wanted to hear, but better to be safe than sorry. So Monday, they put me under, and reopened the old incision and abscess. While in there, they looked at the tendon, which has completely healed, and also found what they think might have been causing the infections. They were coming from the inside out. The sutures in the tendon were rubbing against the inside of my heel. So they removed those and stitched me back up. I am back on crutches and no weight bearing for 2 weeks, but hopefully they got everything figured out.

Well,

Im 4 months out since surgery and have had a few minor setbacks. When I finally went weight bearing, and was allowed to drive, I developed an infection in the incision because it hadnt healed completely and spent 2 weeks packing the opening and on antibiotics. Kept me from therapy for almost 2 weeks. Now, I have an abscess above the incision. On Bactrim and Vicodin for the pain and go to see the Ortho on Thrusday for what was to be my last followup from surgery. Hurts to walk and have a huge lump above the incision. Also tired of the swelling. it swells up like a balloon during the day till I get home and can put it up. I know its a long process, but its getting frustratin. Any words of advice?

Went to see the doctor on Thursday.I got the cast off a month ago and he said i could work on moving the foot around to get my range of motion and some flexibility back. He wanted me to do this before I went to PWB so there would be some movement in it.  He finally said I can go PWB, increasing 25% each week till I am at 100%. I start therapy on Monday. 3x a week for 8 weeks. Then back to see the doctor again. Also got the ok to start driving again, which is such a great feeling, although I am sore as heck after driving to and from work. I know that will go away with time. I am really hoping to be out of the boot by Christmas.

Hey everyone.
How did everyone handle the long period of inactivity while recovering?  I am at almost 5 weeks after surgery and have pretty much hit my breaking point. I tore my right AT, so that means I cant drive anywhere, and today it is killing me because I love to do photography, and it has been beautiful here all week and supposed to be just as nice this upcoming week.

Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated

Tom