tyty’s AchillesBlog

It’ll be interesting to see what his course of action, repair, recovery are. http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/13/sport/kobe-bryant-injury/index.html

1) Moving a 3000 sf house, 3 cats, a dog and a child while recovering from 2 atr surgeries in less than 4 months.

2) On April Fool’s day texting your husband who’s at the store a few miles away to say you fell off your scooter and can’t get up.

3) Moving from a house with wood floors to a house with thick carpet when you need to knee-roll

…to be continued

Hope this isn’t too much information, but I think it needs some background and is pretty amusing. My in-laws are crazy, they’re from a 3rd world country and are very… Crazy. I went with my husband for a family powwow so he could attempt to reason with them not to send his 17 year old, pregnant niece back to an abusive man who they arranged marriage for last year when she was barely 17. We took the wheelchair, which we normally take when going out. I’ve never really had to use it on carpet. We also have a  portable ramp at home so I’ve never had to negotiate 4 inch steps,

To make a long story short, after my sitting quietly for a couple of hours, (where they also accused my husband of not being a man because he was pushing a wheelchair) they started talking about the niece just needing “an adjustment period”.  My brain exploded, I yelled (I’m usually extremely quiet), “You people are all f’ing lunatics” and then attempted to roll out the door on really, really thick carpet (which was covered in a rug) using my “good” leg to scoot out of the room, I VERY slowly rolled past all of them and when I got to my husband  (after taking 10 minutes to go about 4 feet) said “give me my keys” (mind you I’m two weeks post-op and can’t drive). I kept  ”rolling” and finally got to the front door and realized I couldn’t roll down the 4″ step without risking falling out. At that point my husband and his father came running over, lifted the chair for me to get down where I continued rolling to the locked car and sat and waited.

My husband now refers to this as the “gorilla stomping episode” .

My right leg is doing well at 18 weeks even though I had to stop PT shortly into it to deal with left leg who is now at 2 weeks post surgery. I’m a little concerned about all the twisting and hopping I need to do on the recently healed/healing leg. Everything was going great but when I injured the other leg, I realized (since I now couldn’t put full weight on the newly injured foot) how weak it was because I would tip over when trying to stand. :-/

Today I had the incision looked at, leg re-splinted and re-wrapped (was hoping everything would go faster this time but NO!) . Ill have stitches out next week and was told to bring my boot, I did ask her about accelerating the weight bearing/PT process because I had to wait for 7 weeks with #1 and she said I could start both pretty soon after the boot this tine.  I was a little concerned that I wasn’t being as careful with my foot this time around and was afraid of what would be under the bandages but everything looked ok.

Going a little stir crazy. I was NWB for November 1st to December 31st. I reinjured in mid-January and limped around until this months surgery. On the other hand, I “know the drill” so I don’t have to work as hard in figuring out logistical things like baths, bathroom, getting in and out of cars, but I don’t feel any extra motivation to expend a whole lot of extra energy. It seems like all of the above are as equally draining as they were the first go around.

Charlie the cat and I have come to an understanding. I supply my recovering foot and he does whatever he wants. This includes sleeping on it, hanging off of it, biting my toes while I remain calm and try not to jerk my foot, running in front of me trying to trip me, and occasionally  trying to dump water on my bandages which aren’t supposed to get wet. I try not to run his tail over with the scooter. Business as usual.

It’s been a while since Ive written an entry. At first things were proceeding along fine and I didn’t have anything interesting to say. Then a couple of weeks ago, I was walking. In Home Depot at a normal pace, when I felt a slight pull/tear in my good foot. I went back to my surgeon and she ordered an MRI. That took a couple of weeks because of Insurance issues so I finally had it yesterday. Today my doctor asked me to come right in. She said the report said I had a lot of scar tissue and a tear and she was concerned about letting it go to a full tear (I had extensive repair on the first one because my original doctor misdiagnosed it). She felt it and said it was less swollen than last time. I (stupid me) said, “yeah, Ive even been able to do a heel raise” and she said “oh, lets see”. Big mistake.

Now, I’m sure it would have happened eventually but I got off the exam table, bent the knee on my repaired leg and went to stand on my toes when “Boom, POP” the loudest pop. And surgery for my good foot scheduled for next Friday.

I’m not a cryer but I’m sooooooo depressed. I had/have a trip to Florida planned for this Sunday. (She said I could go if I wear the boot but I don’t know) and My dream trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley was planned for March 16th. Seems unlikely that I’ll be able to make it.

Nothing new to report but in case it helps anyone… I’ve been FWB for two weeks. My progression from the boot (Vacocast) to a high top sneaker to a regular sneaker took less than a week but that’s mostly because Ive been fortunate enough to have very little pain. Walking barefooted or shoeless with socks is fine in the morning but after I’ve been wearing shoes all day it’s painful on the bottom of my heel. The little spikes things on the bottom of a Croc also hurt my tender foot.

My doctor, who I visited yesterday, seems very pleased with my progress and seemed surprised I was walking so well. I told her my “other” achilles seemed tight and she tested and said I had more ROM in my surgical foot than the “good” one. She gave me a night splint to wear. (Anyone have experience with these?)

I discussed this with my physical therapist (who is great) and am going to do the home exercises on both legs to see if that helps. I lifted 7.5 lbs on one of the foot machines today and then my PT told me of another patient who did 30! Something to aspire to. My doctor’s “protocol” seems to be 3 weeks of PT. I had to push a little for more time. I don’t think she has a problem with it, I just think her perspective is a bit more limited. (I.e. I couldn’t really walk well, or painlessly, when I first saw her so this is a major improvement) I’m learning a lot at PT so I think I’m actually going to end up in better shape ths pre-ATR.

I had moved my bed and everything downstairs during my recovery and am having the movers come tomorrow to out everything back to normal. A little anxious about going up and down stairs all day because prior to surgery it would take a long time to shuffle up, placing my bad foot on each step and the dragging the good one up, one at a time and painfully. I keep expecting pain because I waited so long to have the surgery it’s etched in my brain!

I still get a lot of swelling after walking a lot (going to the mall for example) and the it takes a good day to recover so I’m trying to pace myself but all in all still moving forward for now.

That’s the word of the day.

In a couple of past blog entries, I’ve joked about my lack of balance and my inability to do a side to side motion on the balance board. Apparently, there’s something called “proprioception” and my lack of it is the cause of these issues.

From what I’ve read, Proprioception is your own ability to sense where your limbs are in space. Here’s a wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

I searched achillesblog itself and found quite a few entries where the word was mentioned so I think it must be fairly common to lose this ability with injury. Maybe my walking around on my injured foot too long didnt help. My physical therapist says it’ll come back. He did also say to be extra careful because people reinjure themselves, have falls, sprain ankles when they have no Proprioception.

Googling “Proprioception after achilles” also yielded quite a few results. It also made it clear that lack of it can cause injury to the achilles. (Hmm..I wonder if I’ve had this all along. ive never been the most graceful person.) I also wonder if there’s something people can do while they’re NWB to keep this ability intact during recovery.

I’m very curious to know if any others have/had experienced this and what’s been helpful.

Well, it hasn’t been a full week since my last post but a lot has happened since. Apparently, I’m on the “no protocol” protocol.

On Monday (8 weeks) my physical therapist said if the doctor gave the ok I could start strength exercises. I called my doctor’s office and she shouted “You’re at 8 weeks? You can do anything you want.” Anything? Ok.

In all fairness, she did tell me at the 6 week visit that in a couple of weeks I could get a high top sneaker with heel pads and would be able to drive shortly afterwards. Apparently, the boot is what hinders driving. I immediately ran to the shoe store and got my Air Jordan’s (or the cheaper, “youth” sized version since they don’t seem to have many girl’s basketball shoes). Walking was significantly slower but much more even and balanced. I brought a crutch with me everywhere I went at first but realized I was just dragging it with me after a while.

On Tuesday, at PT, we began exercises with Dynobands, a small leg weight and some machine where there are 4 weights around it and you move front to back, side to side and then all around. I’ll get the name.

Tuesday night I realized I had no ride to PT and risked getting scolded by my therapist and left a message asking if it would be ok for me to drive 1.5 miles. Imagine my surprise, and joy, when he said yes.

On Wednesday, we added more weight and added an ankle board. This is where I hit a wall for the first time. We read and talk a lot about dorsiflexation and plantarflexation. Apparently there’s another movement which is side to side. I couldn’t even move the board an inch sideways in either direction! We tried it with me sitting down and even that was tough. He gave me some Dynobands to go and I took the long way home! Yay freedom. (I think I’m prepared for the inevitable plateau and setback but feel pretty good right now)

It’ll be 8 weeks tomorrow. My surgeon said at 8 weeks I could stick a couple of heel pads in a boot or high-top sneaker. My physical therapist seems dubious. I decided to give my Ugg boots a try since a) living in Texas I rarely have an opportunity to wear fleece-lined boots and b) everyone hates them so, now, I actually have an excuse to wear them.

I’m feeling a little naughty and reckless. My doctor said it was ok but she hasn’t felt my tendon since she stitched it all back together. My physical therapist spends an hour with it 3 times a week. But he’s also a very cautious.

I’m trying to follow Norm’s UOW protocol http://achillesblog.com/normofthenorth/the-non-surgical-protocol-ive-been-following/ as best I can with all the mixed signals I’m getting and my family wanting me to be as conservative as possible. In the protocol it goes up to 12 weeks but I don’t see where shows enter the picture. Also, I don’t know where bare-feet fall in.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the darn boot off without taking the achilles with it. In hindsight a zipper boot or lace up would have been preferable

Had my six week followup yesterday. On my last visit, at 3 weeks, my doctor said to continue no weight bearing and she would give me a prescription for PT at the next visit. So, I was a bit surprised when she walked into the exam room and asked a) if I was practicing my walking and b) if I started PT yet (insert rolling eyes here).

So, after we got that sorted, she said I could go ahead and start walking. I asked her if I had any restrictions and she said my added cadaver tendon and tissue wrap made it it very secure and I shouldn’t worry about anything. She said in a week or two I could put 2 heel pads in a high top sneaker and drive. Mind you, I hadn’t put my foot in the ground for 6 weeks. Anyway, that was a bit weird and scary.

When I got home last night I tried to walk but it hurt and the whole family was “encouraging” me so I just went to sleep. (Bootless. Yay!) (Before I went to sleep I looked up Kevin’s exercise sheet and did some of the exercises)

This morning, when I was alone, I tried again. I stood up, in the boot, holding the crutches for balance and walked around the house a few times. It felt great!

Today I had my first PT appointment. (I WALKED in with crutches and boot) The therapist took a lot of measurements (both feet and ankles were equal but a 4 cm difference between calves) and then did ultrasound therapy, some sort of uv light therapy ad a tissue massage. It’s amazing how exhausting having things done TO you can be!

I’m very thankful this site exists. Navigating through all this can be very confusing and it’s really helpful to see everyone else’s stories.