May 10 2008
The Beginning
I have found this site to be a wealth of information and am thankful for everyone sharing their experience with this injury. I am 28 years old and play basketball, tennis, golf, wakeboard, skateboard, and snowboard. Sports are a huge part of what define me as me.
I have been training for a basketball tournament in Los Angeles and definitely overusing my achilles. I have had pain in my right achilles for about a month now and unfortunately overcompensated and tore my left achilles. It happened playing basketball and of course like all the rest of the stories i heard a loud pop which will haunt me for the rest of my life.
I am scheduled to have surgery next Wednesday, May 14th. Feeling quite disappointed right now and bored to say the least. I am much appreciative of this website and taking the opportunity to document my experience in the hopes that it will help others as well.
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w8kbrd -
Welcome to the club, and good luck with the surgery! Glad that you found the site informative, and looking forward to reading your future posts.
w8kbrd,
Sorry to have to welcome you to the club. We have all been there and know what you’re going thru. Ask us questions, read and speaking from experience it goes faster than you think. Keep it elevated, ice and stay hydrated.
keep us posted on your progress.
Doc Ross
Welcome to our sorry club. This site has helped me immensely during the past 2 weeks since my injury - I have learned alot and have gotten alot of encouragement from my club members.
I will honestly tell you that the most painful part of my surgery was that the nurse could not start the IV in my left hand - ouch! That hurt more than my foot did afterwards. Ice and elevation for the first week - it will really help and promote the healing.
Good luck. You will have alot of downtime to think- pick up some good books and movies you want to see, and focus on one day at a time.
w8kbrd - Welcome and good luck with the surgery. Take advantage of this site as it is a great source of info and it really helps to pass the time. You’ll be back playing basketball, tennis, golf and boardin’ before you know it. As you’ve probably found out, there are a lot of us going through this injury, so feel free to throw out any questions.
Tennisjunkie - It took my nurse 5 tries before hitting a vein with the IV. I was bruised up and down both arms for a week after surgery. But, as you said, that was probably the worst part of the surgery.
w8kbrd,
Sorry about your ATR - I hurt mine 3 days after finishing a sprint Triathlon. The FURTHEST thing from my mind when I went out to play tennis was that something like this could ever happen. I’ve heard it happens to “weekend warriors” - but many people on this site were very athletic before they ruptured their achilles. I too had an occasionally tender achilles (post-running), but the one that ruptured was my non-tender one. I am now 13 days post-op, and found that once my surgery was done, I started to feel better. Once I felt “whole” again, I was able to start thinking about when I will be recovered. Before the surgery I found it depressing, as it was still broken. I am apprehensive about using it again, as I had absolutley no warning it would happen, but this club is really helping. It’s so great to read that everyone else is getting better, and many people are back to running and sports. I am planning on getting back on a bike as soon as I can. It’s hard to be still, when you are used to being active. I actually like getting out of the house on crutches. It feels good to move!
Good luck with your surgery. I’m sure it will go great.
Jen
Hi,
I noticed you were asking dennis about swelling pre-op. My ankle and foot were quite swollen prior to my surgery, and they went ahead with it. Keep elevating it and icing it for sure. I found that as soon as my foot went down, the swelling seemed to get worse. Hang in there.
Jen