Half Way Home
Well, here I stand at the half way point on the marathon tracker. Brooklyn is in my rear view mirror and Queens is just a few steps ahead. That’s right, Wednesday marks the 6 month anniversary of my Achilles surgery. I remember thinking shortly after the injury occurred back in January that July seemed so far away. My how time flies! While there’s still another “half marathon” to go, I anticipate the road may start to get a bit smoother.
Here are a few photos to show the latest progress:
For the newer members, my surgeon uses a slightly less invasive procedure that includes 3 small horizontal incisions as opposed to the longer vertical incision. Here is a link that closely describes the procedure.
After spinning my wheels for several months, I feel like I’ve made more progress this month. Although I still don’t have a lot of strength in my calf, I can see and feel quite a bit more muscle mass. The persistent limp has diminished significantly, although not completely. I still limp slightly first thing in the morning, late in the evening, when walking fast and when walking barefoot. There is still some swelling around the ankle, but it looks better than it has the last several months. Also, as you can probably see in the photos, I still have a bit of a scar tissue mass by the top incision. I still get some pain in the tendon and lower calf when I push things a little too hard. I use this as my guide for taking a break. My PT advised that a little pain can be expected while recovering. If the pain gets worse, it’s a sign to dial things back.
Although I’m sure my latest progress is mainly the result of time and patience, I have tried a few things that may be helping. First, I’m working more rest days into my workout schedule. This has been mentally challenging because I don’t want to look back a year from now and wonder if I should have been doing more after the injury to rebuild the muscle strength. Second, I’ve been wearing a compression sock for awhile which seems to help some with the swelling. Third, I take an occasional dose of ibuprofen and fish oil to try and minimize any inflammation around the tendon. Like I said, I don’t know if any of the above are having an affect or if the latest progress is just the result of time, but for now I’ll continue with what seems to be working.
So, what’s next? I’ll continue my work at the gym trying to regain the lost calf muscle. I also intent to start uping my running milage. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to comfortably run a 5K by the end of the month. I’m going to PT every 2 weeks now, mainly to get a good massage and to check my progress with several of the exercises. My hope for the next month is that the limp will be completely gone and I’ll be doing unassisted single-legged calf raises. Here’s to the second half!
Cheers!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tom, congratulations on the milestone, and thanks again for being the pace setter here. We still have a long way to go, but I look forward to seeing you at the finish line someday!
hi Tom ,my name is Maria,and i am glad with your progress because expept that you give hope to us.i am on the 4,5month of the rupture.i have too this persistent limp but i hope as time passes to diminish.i would like to ask you if you can down stairs normally ?and if not ,what did you say your doctor. i have problem with this.i go stairs down with putting the bad leg fi rst.andthen i bring the other.thank you again for your time.i am waiting for your answer. thanks again.
Tom,
So pleased for you, good luck with the rest of the marathon, I think you are going to be a winner.
Annie
Maria - Other than the lack of strength in my calf, I walk down stairs normally. My heel tends to fall quickly to the step because I’m not able to keep the weight up on my toes yet. Otherwise, I’m able to alternate down the stairs just fine. If you’re having problems, I would recommend practicing on them over and over again. Start by standing on the stairs as if you were going to walk down. Then, drop the good leg down toward the next step and flex the knee of the bad leg until you start to feel the stretch. You’ll probably feel a bit of a strain. If it hurts, don’t drop the foot down quite as far. Keep practicing this and soon the tendon will stretch out a bit more making the stairs a bit easier. Good luck.
Thanks everyone for your comments!
Maria,
I’ve picked up a trick for getting down the stairs. I put my bad foot further forward on the tread, so the ball of my foot is off the front of the stair. This reduces the amount of ankle flexing required to get my good foot onto the lower stair. It takes a little getting used to, but now I do it without thinking.
-J
Tom,
Thanks for the update. It does get hard waiting for improvements to show. I’ve been thinking lately that I need to get more aggressive on my rehab because of some slow progress. It’s hard to find a balance between pushing hard enough and not pushing too hard.
-J
tom - righto! Nice work…your definition is coming back (on the tendon and the calf). Hard to believe it’ll be ‘09 before we know it and we’ll have a year behind us! Keep up the good work and hope to hear updates in the coming months.
Tom - Congrats on the progress you’ve made. I think resting a day or two between workouts is actually very beneficial. Looks like you crossed over to Queens on the Marathon tracker!
Tom,
Well done on the halfway there milestone, keeping working away !
Johnk
Tom,
Looking good! I am now where you were about the time that I ruptured, so I still have all the progress you’ve made since I’ve been reading your story still ahead of me! Seems like a lot of good things on the way. keep up the good work!
Tom, Congrats..I hit my 6 months at November 7th..Thanks for all the good info..