Jogging has begun

Yes it has been a while since I last posted but thought I would take a moment to update my progress.  On Friday I ran a 12 minute mile at 90% my body weight.  Outside of being a tad winded my tendon and foot felt pretty darn good.  I am walking quite normal these days and if you didn't know any better you couldn't tell I had an injury like this.  The only discomfort I have these days is stiffness around my inner and outer heal.  It will just take time to get the tendons in those areas to get back to working like they did before.  I can see and feel the improvement every time I go to PT.  Soon I will be able to start working on lateral movements and jogging at my full body weight.  I'm working toward being back to 100% by my anniversary date of the injury.  After 8 months I'm feeling more and more confident everyday and looking forward to a full recovery. 

Sometimes I get the feeling the aspirin companies are sponsoring my pain.

6 months later

So it was 6 months ago yesterday that I ruptured my achilles playing soccer.  I had my 15th physical therapy appointment today and I was as light on my feet as I've been so far.  My PT had me doing some step in and out of a rope ladder exercise that may sound complicated but was a success.  I have watched others speed through this exercise and wonder if and when I would be able to speed through it.  While I was not speedy I was quite impressed with my mobility.  At this time the most discomfort I feel is stiffness with flexibility in taking steps and some days its worse than others.  The good thing is my daughter said to me earlier this week, "daddy, your not limping".  It made my day because I know my limp is still a bit subtle and I tend to stride through the minor discomfort.  I set a goal a few months back to go on a hike in August around 6 months after my rupture.  So tomorrow my daughter and I will be going for a hike around Reflection Lakes near Mt Rainier.  It should be a great day as our warm and sunny days come to an end for the summer.  It's amazing how much we learn about the body when things like this happen.  I am finding that I am learning how to walk all over again and it takes a lot more concentration than I ever imagined. 

He who limps is still walking.  ~Stanislaw J. Lec

Physical Therapy Begins

and it was rough.....parts of it totally rocked my world.  When it comes to the pain of the nerve I feel I home I thought I had experienced level 10 take your breath away type stuff.  Well today in going to the PT for the first time he found like a level 20 out 10.  I think the old ladies in the room rehabing shoulders started crying just looking at me.  They hope by loosening up the scar tissue and get all the tendons, nerves and ligaments going in the right direction it will improve the nerve pain over the next few weeks.  There were times today I felt the pain was a good and bad kind of thing, you know, it hurts so good.  The foot needs to be stretched and forced to move more so than I had done yet.  So while I felt it was a great day for the actual achilles and foot for mobility and flexibility it was another jaw clincher for the nerve. 

One PT visit down and until I am jogging comfortably again.  Keep Smilin, I got this!!!

Barefoot and walking

Well.....looks more like limping than walking but I am walking shoe free now.  I went to my DR on Wed and had a great visit.  Tendon is good for the next step which in this case is walking barefoot and starting Physical Therapy.  I am also able to move into my normal shoes now as well so this is a good sign.  I am still experiencing some minor and sometimes excruciating nerve pain but it is no longer preventing me from my rehab activities.  I just sort of suck it up and move on after it takes my breath away as the pain seems to go away pretty quickly.  I am able to walk for longer periods of time now and stand for a good amount.  I volunteered for my daughter's field day on Tue and was on my feet for over 4 hours that day while coaching the capture the flag game.  There is also a great PT group here where I live who the PT group for the US Olympic soccer team and others so I should be in good hands and will begin the PT next week.  So good things to come and working on getting my stride back sooner than later. 

 "The pain you're feeling can't compare to the joy that's coming."  Anonymous

Limp-a-long

Limp-a-long

So it is now 12 weeks from my achilles surgery and I have been in my 2 inch heeled shoes for a month.  I got the go ahead from my doctor to move into my next pair of shoes that give me an inch lift.  I have been experiencing some random pain on the out ankle bone of my foot and today the Dr really pissed it off in such a way it took my breath away.  Come to find out I have some Sural Nerve damage from the surgery that hopefully will heal an inch per month.  Not really sure how long that is but it's not fun when it happens.  I get the pain randomly when I walk and hopefully it improves before my next visit and not get any worse.  Usually damage to this nerve causes numbness in the lower foot and toes but I don't have that problem just the sharp pain.  So the dr thinks it is healing and will only continue to improve, yeah as long as he doesnt make it angry anymore.  Anyways, on to my next stage which also means more walking and stationary bike work.  Luckily my new kicks are a Nike casual shoe with a heel lift and I can do away with the Grandpa shoes I've been sporting. 

I have included a picture below of where the nerve is that is now trying to slow my healing, this is not my foot.  As well as a picture of my new shoes. 

Limp-A-Long.....one step at a time

I made it home

So tonight I will be sleeping in my own bed for the first time in 66 days.  I went for a test drive yesterday with my dad and he cleared me for driving.  I have come to find that at the present time it is easier to drive than it is to walk.  Just means I need to keep going for walks, the issue with that is there are nothing but hills where I live.  So walking along a flat road may take me driving to the Harbor near me or something.  Then again when I went for a walk yesterday I was lucky to walk for a 1/4 mile before I was tired and needing to rest.  Needless to say my leg and foot need some time to get back up to normal walking activities.  I just spent about 30 minutes in the grocery store and now I need a nap.  Anyways, it's great to be home and working on my foots movement and stamina one day at a time. 

Cheers

and we're walkin

So I may be slow and my walk looks funny but I managed to get my foot into my new shoes and go for a walk today.  I have no pain while walking the only discomfort I really have is from my foot still being a little swollen and the skin pressing into the shoe.  Let's just say I will be doing a lot more walking this weekend and maybe go for a test drive sometime to see if I can drive myself home.  My skin on my foot is definitely still healing as you can see the scabbing has improved but the dryness is pretty wild, liking my Eucerin.  I have come to realize the hard part is in front of me and the cast was the easy part.  One day at a time. 

Happy Friday!!!

Cast-A-Way

So it's been 8 weeks since my surgery and 2 casts and tonight I am cast free.  Not that I am feeling all that good about it at the moment but I am sure I will get there.  I mean did I truly expect to have a cast removed from my ankle and be able to move right my into a shoe and start walking.......I like to think I'm good, but not superhuman.  So if you took a moment to see the pics you saw that due to the blistering and rash combination my ankle has some lovely scabbing going on.  I soaked it for a good 20 minutes tonight and it already looks and feels better.  Needless to say I am back to being on crutches until I build up enough strength and mobility to walk, I'm pushing for the weekend, hopefully sooner than later.  There is still some swelling and obviously a lot of stiffness.  So trying on my high heeled shoes will wait until tomorrow, the foot needs some air time.  It's funny, after the nurse removed the cast she asked numerous times if I was in pain or had been in pain due to how it looked and I kept saying no.  I've been walking on this cast my foot feels much better than it looks.  I have since had some minor discomfort really due to it being free to move for the first time in 61 days.  Tomorrow is a new day and may the healing continue. 

Castaway

My new cast

One month down and another one to go.  I was a little paranoid today going to the doctor because I had developed an infection in my mouth due to grinding my teeth at night.  The dentist said this was from the trauma my body was going through and clinching my teeth in my sleep.  So I started taking Penicillin for the infection.  Well come Sunday after being out on the deck in the sun for a bit I started to get a rash on my rt knee.  I stopped taking the meds and started Benadryl to help with the reaction.  In the meantime I just knew the rash spread down inside my cast.  Needless to say when they took off the cast today my leg had the rash all over it.  My doctor comes in and takes a look, owe your foot looks great.  The rash will be fine, lets get this next cast on you.  Ummm.....really?  My foot looked in bad shaped to me, there was some blistering that had occurred around the incisions they made.  He was like oh this, lets clean it up.  He's handling my foot like nothing was wrong and I was laying there scared to even touch it.  As you can imagine his demeanor put me at ease and made me feel much better about my progress. 

So they proceed to put my new cast on me and I have attached a couple of new pics so you can see them as well.  This cast will allow me to be partial weight bearing on it.  Meaning I can stand on it and walk around on it but if I am going to be up and about I will still use the crutches to assist me at times.  I have yet to really test this out as I think it will take some getting use to feeling comfortable enough to stand on it again.  That's okay, I have a month to break it in and no where to go. 

"Nature performs the cure, the physician takes the fee."   Benjamin Franklin

One more week

I had commented to family and friends recently about the fact I had yet to have an incident with my crutches.  So what happens tonight, yup, nice little moment with the 3 steps from the dining room to the living room at my dads place tonight.  Manage to catch myself from true injury but tweaked my knee pretty bad and stood on the toes sticking out of this cast and my big toe is screaming at me right now.  No other pain so I guess I am all good and hopefully didn't screw up my recovery.  I will be getting my new walking cast next week with a raised heal.  Which means I will need to get shoes with a raised heal for my good foot as well.  Seems they are not common for males so this could be rough unless I just buy some heal insoles.  I have not had any issues with itching so this makes me happy and really all I feel a tingling sensation pretty frequently around my heal and achilles area which is a sign of healing so this is good even though it definitely an odd feeling.  So more to come in a week with new photos and how much longer I will have a cast and be unable to drive, probably another good 4 weeks. 

"A patient cured, is a customer lost" Unknown

Follow up Appt

So I had a pretty good week in learning more about how well I can move around in my cast.  I wouldn't really say that I have pain anymore but more of a tingling sensation every now and then that just feels odd.  Hopefully it's a sign of healing.  I will say that the main source of pain I have now is trying to extend the amount of time I can be up and about on my crutches.  It seems I can only manage about 15 minutes on my left foot and leg before they begin to cramp and burn in a way that says get off your only good foot now before I make you collapse.  Needless to say my left leg is getting stronger while the right is growing weaker.  I'm sure it will make for all kinds of a fund rehab. 

So I went to the Dr office yesterday to have them hear me say I am in little to no pain and it's been this way for almost a week now.  They looked at the cast and my foot and said this is great news we will see you the end of the month.  Hmm.....not what I expected, I could've just called and told them that instead of making the trip and being there all of 10 minutes so I then made them earn the co-pay.  I had been experiencing some pressure on my upper shin from the cast pressing up against it when I have my foot resting on the floor so they sawed some of the top of to relieve the pressure.  Problem with this is the lady wound up cutting a little too deep and now I have some discomfort in my shin, lucky me.  I guess if that's the worst of it at this point then I should be happy.  I won't dwell on the fact that it comes off in 16 days and then I will get some sort of partial weight bearing walking boot of a cast.  So for now I heal away and be more and more thankful for March Madness. 

My 6 yr old daughter did some decorating of my cast today which is good and cute.  She wrote her our names and then she drew a soccer field with a net.  I think she is planning to draw her and playing soccer on it the grass tomorrow.  I think we will go see Lorax tomorrow and see how I do being out of the house and in a theater for 2 hrs. 

Martin

So it's Sunday night and I made it through the weekend without using my pain medication and have only had some minimal pain to deal with.  I used Ibuprofen to help keep the swelling down but other than that things seems to be progressing very well.  I have found though that if I stay on my crutches and on my left leg for more than say 10 minutes at a time my left foot begins to cramp and feel like it's on fire from the stress of balancing and my weight.  Needless to say I think I need to head back home for a good pair of shoes to help in that area.  So tomorrow my dad and I will be heading back to my place for my mail, shoes and check on my place.  I should be good to work a full day tomorrow and not be horizontal to do it.  I have found my foot to be pain free while sitting in a chair and leaving my leg extended so some good small steps are being made.  I find that at some point in the evening I have thoughts about how much longer I will have a cast on my foot and well, it sucks.  So I try to get rid of those thoughts quickly and focus on one day at a time to maintain my healing and understand what my body can take at this point so that maybe I can be back on my own sooner than later.  The only then real problem being, how will I get around if I can't drive with a cast on my foot.  Oh well, jump over that hurdle when I get there. 

Thanks for reading

Martin

I have to say I am feeling somewhat better today with movement and less pain so tomorrow I will go without my meds and see how it goes.  I am also hoping my energy level begins to improve as well.  I have ordered my seal tight waterproof cast bag so that should help in showering.  The leg over the side of the tub thing is a bit strenuous.  Lots of basketball tomorrow, lets see if Texas can upset Kansas.  My follow up DR appt is on Thur, trying to focus on one day at a time.  Big picture view with this cast on can be daunting. 

Martin

The Injury and Surgery

This is my first ever blog and I thought I would create one to help in my recovery to building up my achilles after it ruptured a week ago tonight on 2/23.  I was playing soccer on my co-ed soccer team up at Magnusson Park on LK Washington.  It was a simple game and I was about to make a run for a ball when it popped and well it felt like someone whacked me on the back of my foot with a baseball bat.  I thought I had been kicked only no one was around me so needless to say I become rather paranoid and worried as I fell to the turf.  My whole foot was numb and felt like it had fallen asleep as I could not move it on it's own once I got to the sidelines.  Good friends of mine drive me to my dads who then took me to Highline Hospital where they put a splint on me and thought is was a rupture and to see an Orthopedic Surgeon the next day.  I was able to get into to see one on that Fri and he confirmed that it was ruptured and surgery would be needed.  I had the surgery on Tue 2/28 and it was a success.  I am now in a non weight bearing cast and experience most pain when I get up to go to the bathroom.  I am horizontal all day long and trying keeping my leg elevated.  I am in good spirits at this time and hoping to stay that way but it may be a struggle the longer I have to remain horizontal like this.  I will be scheduling my follow up appt tomorrow and will maintain as is for now.  I am still taking the pain meds and plan to start decreasing them over the weekend.  I have to say the pain I feel when I sit up right and lower my leg towards the floor is pretty remarkable, it definitely takes my breath away.  If you have found my blog I hope you enjoy the reading and please feel free to ask questions or provide feedback.  Happy reading and see you soon. 

Martin