Achilles Healing - Tom’s Road to Recovery

I spent the last several days vacationing in Boston.  It was actually a good time to be there as plenty of excitement was in the air - Celtics advance after Game 7 victory, Ted Kennedy hospitalized, Jon Lester no-hitter, graduation at about a dozen colleges and universities.  Anyway, the main reason for our trip was to catch a baseball game at Fenway.  I’d never had the opportunity to do so previous, so when I saw that the Milwaukee Brewers, my favorite team, were scheduled to play at Fenway this year, I booked the trip.  Unfortunately, the Brewers didn’t put up much of a fight as they fell to the Red Sox 11-7.  Fortunately, they faired better than the Royals who didn’t get a hit off of Jon Lester the following night.

The rest of the trip consisted of a lot of walking around the city.  It was a good test for my tendon.  To recap, I’m currently 19 weeks post-op.  I’ve been a bit frustrated the last several weeks as I continue to have a slight limp and am not back to walking full speed.  I get around okay, but I still fatigue more quickly than prior to the injury.  I’m able to go a couple miles, but then need a few minutes to sit and rest.  The discomfort is generally more in the bottom of my heel and not in the tendon.  I think the main cause is that I’m still lacking strength in my calf to keep more weight up on my toes when I walk.  I keep waking up every morning thinking that it will be the day I take a step and the limp disappears, ala Verbal Kint at the end of The Usual Suspects.  Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a Hollywood ending for me so far.

Speaking of Hollywood, while walking around Boston we came upon a film crew set up outside a shop in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.  We were in search of a bite to eat so we shuffled quickly through the crowded sidewalk, not paying too much attention to what was happening.  I turned to look at the other side of the street after we made it through the crowd and noticed several onlookers starting to snap photos in my direction.  Thinking that was a bit odd, I continued to look around and realized that Kate Hudson was passing right behind me.  So, if you see any paparazzi photos of Kate Hudson in the near future with a funny looking guy in the background, it’s probably me!

Anyway, back to the AT.  As I mentioned previously, Boston was a good test.  We walked several miles each day playing “tourist” which wore me and the tendon out by the end of the night.  I still have some swelling when I’m on my feet for long periods of time, but it seems to subside with rest.  Fortunately, I felt pretty good each morning, ready to go again.  I also found out that trying to keep balance while standing on the subway and a whale watching cruise gave the tendon a good workout.

I’ve really been focusing on massaging the tendon the last couple of weeks.  I’ve done so in the past, but not with as much pressure.  I have a pretty good sized ball of scar tissue above the rupture site.  I’m trying hard to smooth out this mass.  I’ve seen some progress, but there’s still work to be done.  My PT has been doing some massage work as well, but I’m only going once every two weeks now, so I’m not sure how much it’s helping.  Perhaps I should go in for a few sessions with a massage therapist??

I continue my work at the gym as well.  Again, there has been some progress, but no real milestones to report at this time.  I keep reminding myself that it was only a few months ago that I was just happy to start walking again.  The recovery is long and you’ll only get frustrated if you judge your progress in days rather than weeks and months.  This is a comment I’ve made several times before and occasionally need to remind myself to listen to my own advice.

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