As the 3rd week of recovery begins I feel that things are going very well. The foot has been quite good the last few days, giving me very little grief at all. I'm getting used to the boot: getting around on it, sleeping with it, and showering with it. The crutches are still a little annoying, but I'm getting used to those as well. Having some more confidence in the boot (combined with how good the foot feels) has allowed me to put a bit of weight on the toe end of the boot as I use the crutches. Taking that bit of weight off the crutches is so good!

I went to work on Wednesday and Thursday last week. That went quite well. The commute to work is great - it's a little over 15 minutes drive, which is amazing given Brisbane's growing traffic problems. Getting from the carpark to work isn't too bad, though getting back at the end of the day is a little bit of a struggle. Sitting at the desk all day is fine. However, after the combined effort over the two days I was completely exhausted. Both Friday and Saturday mornings I had a good sleep in, and have basically been trying to rest up all weekend so I can try and get in 3 days work this week.

The plan for the next week is to try and work I think Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. I was going to aim for Friday instead - alternating a day at work with a day of rest - but Em has Radio Lollipop Day this weekend, so she'll be at Central Station super early Friday morning collecting donations. So to go to work I'd either have to go in then with her, or find some other way in. We also have a work function on Friday night, so I think if I go in Thursday instead then I can sleep in Friday to save up some energy for that night. Then Saturday morning is the go karting that I'd organised with friends. If only I could participate :(

So this week will be the most I've attempted since the injury just over 2 weeks ago. On one hand, I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks so far - it's seemed like forever already. But on the other hand, I'm already one third of the way to the first checkup, which seems to be approaching fast. I can't wait to get the official word on my progress - as I said, it's been feeling really good lately and I'm starting to see a faint speck of light at the end of what at first appeared to be an impossibly long and dark tunnel.

Labels: achilles

I went to work on Friday, catching the train as usual in the morning. That was about the toughest experience of my life - including all the fun runs I've done in the last 2 years, and climbing Mt Warning this time last year.

I'm only 400-500 metres from the train station, but there's a lot of steps, and about a quarter of it is uphill. I think in the end it took about 15 minutes, including a couple of rest stops along the way. Then the other end (thankfully only about a dozen steps, and mostly downhill) was tougher than I expected as well, and I had to stop for a rest at one point. During this rest I noticed that the boot looked rather different to what I expected - instead of the foot being pointed downwards a bit, it seemed to be pointed up a bit.

After getting to work (and heading straight to a couch in the lunch room) I inspected the locking mechanism on the boot again and came to the conclusion that it was set to limit the foot to 20 degrees of movement below and above the horizontal. I happened to have the doctor's referral in my wallet still, so after I deciphered terms like "plantarflexion" and "dorsiflexion" I confirmed that the settings weren't what he requested. I think I've got it right now. I can put more weight on it than before and the boot doesn't move much at all. I still can't do much more than balance on it, but that in itself makes the crutches much easier.

Getting a cab home after work was another endurance trial, as the nearest cab rank to my work had a fairly lengthy queue. So we stood in line for I don't know how long as I tried to take my mind off my foot, along with all the miscellaneous aches and pains that I had accumulated during the morning's trek to work.

Saturday was very uneventful as I rested up after Friday's ordeal. I had aches across most of my upper body. We had planned to go for a drive so Em could get familiar with my car, as we'd decided we'd drive to work for a few weeks until I got used to the crutches enough to attempt the train again. But I was too sore to want to even attempt the stairs at my unit, let alone go out somewhere. Plus, I had the sniffles a bit and wound up with aching sinuses, so after a painkiller (hehe, ruptured achilles I can handle, but a bit of sinus trouble and I run for the paracetamol) I went to bed for a short nap.

That short nap turned into several hours, and I woke up at about 6:30. That would have to be a record afternoon nap for me, especially without a severe lack of sleep beforehand. It really hit home then how much of a toll this has all been taking on me.

Today we went to lunch at the services club on the corner with one of Em's friends. That in itself was enough to leave me semi-exhausted, but after than we went to Em's nan's place for a bit, then had a quick stop at Woolies before going to watch the others play netball. So Em got a good bit of practice at driving my car, but it's left me wondering if I can face work tomorrow or not. I guess seeing as it's 10pm already I should be in bed by now if I want any chance of making it through the day.

I know it might sound a bit strange, but I do want to get back to work. I'm already getting quite sick of being stuck here in the unit. If we had teleporters and could just zap ourselves to where we want to go then it'd be an easy decision. Driving to work will make it much better, but I'll still have to deal with the stairs here and a bit of a walk at the other end. Plus little things like going to the toilet are a little easier here at home.

Meh, I guess I'll just see how I feel in the morning.

Labels: achilles

Got my new ROM (Range Of Movement) boot this morning. It's kind of like a snowboarding boot, only with a large heel and a mechanism for locking the angle of the foot so it won't flex past a given point.

Here's some photos:



It's currently locked at 20 degrees, as per the doctor's instructions. I've experimented putting some weight on it and so far it seems ok for standing and limited hobbling. I can't exactly walk on it, so I'll definitely still need crutches while I'm stuck in this thing.

Getting around is much easier now tho, mostly because I can bend my knee. It already feels a little strange to bend it, so I'll have to be sure to move it whenever I can just to keep it loose and ready to go when I'm able to walk again. Even sitting on the couch is easier.

On the way back from the hospital we stopped in at Bunnings to get some new rubber feet for a shower stool I'd borrowed from my parents. As we were trying to think if there was anything else that might make my life easier while I'm still crippled (haha, in the carpark I did think that we should have asked about a handicap permit for the car :P) and noticed they had portable aircon units on special. So now my unit has aircon! (of sorts) :D

I think based on our little detour to Bunnings that with this boot I'm not too far away from beginning to rejoin society. Even though I think it's slightly heavier, it's a much better fit than the cast so my foot doesn't throb anywhere near as much now when I'm on my feet (err, foot). Stairs are still a bit of a nuisance, but I'm getting used to them, so I think I'll be able to attempt the walk to the train station (and all the associated stairs) some day soon.

So all that's left now is to wait and see how things go. Next checkup is in 6 weeks time where I go to 10 degrees on the boot.

Labels: achilles

The achilles is definitely separated. The good news is that at the right angle the two pieces still reach each other, so surgery isn't required.

So the plan is:

* 6 weeks in a special boot with the ankle locked at a 20 degree angle
* 3 weeks with the boot locked at 10 degrees
* 6 weeks at 0 degrees

During this time the boot will allow me to put my weight on it, and will allow the ankle to move slightly, but not past the minimum angle (ie, so the tendon won't extend more than the doctor wants to allow). Thankfully the boot goes a bit past mid-calf, so I will be able to bend my knee.

After the boot I believe I'll have a series of heel wedges or something to control the motion of the foot a bit still.

Total time will be about 6 months before it's healed.

I won't be able to drive for most of this.

I'll be on crutches for at least half of it.

But so long as I keep from stretching the tendon past where it's capable of going then all should be good. I will have scar tissue on the tendon, so it will be maybe twice as thick as the other and won't have quite as much power as it used to, but it should be almost as good as new.

We're going to pick up the boot tomorrow, so with any luck I might be up and about a bit more by the weekend. Still going to be an awkward 6 months ahead of me, but I'm relieved that the doctor is confident of recovery without surgery, especially when he described what can happen if the wound gets infected. :S

I'll post pics tomorrow of the boot.

Labels: achilles

I've got an appointment at 4:30 this afternoon with the specialist. His receptionist tried to book me in for Friday, but thankfully the doctor who referred me to him on Saturday night said to press the issue and make sure they fit me in today.

It's definitely sounding like surgery is the way to go. I was doing a little reading yesterday on the net about the injury and the recovery. Without surgery it sounds like there's a fair chance of the injury recurring in the future. With surgery it becomes a slim chance. The only real risks of surgery are infection of the wound, so it seems like it's a fairly safe procedure. It's just a little daunting because I've not had surgery before, other than having my tonsils out when I was too young to remember.

I don't know how long it will take before the surgery happens. I hope it's not too long, because I'm gradually in more and more pain. When the foot is elevated (and I can get it comfy) it's not too bad. My back is actually causing me more grief now than the foot. But when I stand up it very quickly becomes almost unmanageably painful, so I'm dreading getting up for any reason whatsoever.

As a result I'm not spending as much time at the computer as I thought I'd be able to, so I'm not managing to get much (if any) work done. I'm not sure yet whether this will change once I've had the surgery, but for my own comfort I'm hoping it's less painful at least. Though that said I've only had the bare minimum of painkillers so far. They don't seem to be having too much effect on the leg itself, but they do help with all the associated pain - I have sore hands/arms/shoulders/chest from using the crutches, and as I said my back is disliking a) lying on the couch all day, and b) having to lift the dead weight of my right leg.

Hopefully before the appointment this afternoon I can manage to have a shower. I had a shower saturday night cos I was all stinky from my (brief) run around at netball, but it was so difficult that I've avoided having one since. I've been managing to bathe to an extent, but I'm starting to feel very blergh and hope to address that before venturing out into public this afternoon.

So only a few more hours until I learn some more about what the near future will hold for me. I'll post again later tonight with the outcome.

Labels: achilles

"I've never had something hurt this much, but I'd rate it about an 8.5"

That was the conversation with the nurse at Greenslopes hospital yesterday evening after I injured myself during netball.

About 10 minutes into our Grand Final, I went to run into a gap from a standing start. As soon as I pushed off with my right foot I heard a snap and I thought I'd busted my shoe, cos my heel went straight to the floor like there was nothing to push against all of a sudden. As soon as I put the foot down a second time (to stop from face planting) I knew it wasn't the shoe. I let myself collapse into a heap because I knew right then that the next few months are going to be about the hardest in my life so far. :(

I couldn't understand why people didn't seem to agree with me when I said I thought I'd snapped my achilles. I think that was simply due to the fact that I wasn't screaming. I wasn't making much noise because I was focusing all my energy on not fainting. There wasn't actually as much pain as I thought for this sort of injury, but that may have been that I was in shock. The desire to faint was I think mostly from shock, plus having gone from running around to dead stop.

I moved to a bed in their like "sick room" I guess, and lay down for a little while and started to feel much better. Then for some unknown reason the muscles in my leg started spasming. That's what I rated as the 8.5 out of 10. It was quite excruciating, and I could do nothing to stop it. Thankfully that stopped after 5 minutes or so and I managed to not cry (though it was very tempting)

Once the game was over I hobbled over with the rest of the team to get our 2nd place trophies. I could walk on the leg, but so long as I walked on the heel only and didn't move the foot at all. But walking the 15 metres or so to the presentation area was enough to leave me very light-headed and again I struggled against the urge to faint.

Thankfully Andrew and I carpool, so he had his first chance to drive my car. He was having fun in it I think. I wasn't appreciating the bumpy ride too much though, but that was thanks to my car's suspension and Brisbane's crappy roads.

At the hospital emergency room I was subjected to way more questions than I wanted to answer while standing. Again I was starting to get light headed and some of the questions were almost too much to answer through the blur of the pain.

I finally got given the ok to sit down and wait for the nurse, but literally 5 seconds after hobbling to a chair the nurse called my name so I had to hobble over to the examination room. She asked a few questions about it before a doctor joined us. He got me to kneel on a chair, then pinched first my good leg, then the bad one and immediately said "that's bad." :(

So a bit under 2 hours later I was hobbling out to the car on crutches in a cast from my toes to a bit up my thigh and a referral to see a specialist this week.

Andrew snapped a few photos on his phone:





So absolutely everything is really awkward now, and simple things like showering is an ordeal. Sleeping last night was uncomfortable, but thankfully mostly pain-free. Until this morning that is - I got up to go to the toilet (a mammoth task in itself), and for some reason my leg decided to thank me with a pain of about a 7 out of 10. :( I hope that's not a regular thing.

Right now I've got it up resting on a chair beside me and I'd say it's maybe a 1 out of 10. I've managed to go this far without any sort of pain killers (not even a Panadol), and I'm hoping to continue doing so. When it comes to pain I'm much more about addressing the cause, not the symptom, so I'm just trying to be nice to the leg and hope that it's nice to me in return.

The next step from here is to make an appointment with the specialist and discuss my options - basically either leave it in a cast and let it recover on its own, or have surgery to repair the damage and speed up the recovery. Apparently surgery is the more common option, so I'll probably be going that route. It's a little daunting tho.

So the next few months are going to... well... suck. I'm glad right now that I have LOTS of sick leave at work, and can pretty much work from home, so I think I'll be doing that for at least a week or two to start. That's good and bad - good because I won't have to go up and down the stairs at my unit here, but bad because I have no aircon and summer is starting to make an appearance.

I'm really pissed at my body that I've been trying to lose some weight and get into shape and it keeps breaking on me whenever I make an extra effort. It's got me wondering about my future in netball. I'll miss at least 1, more like 2 seasons because I won't want to risk further injury by pushing it too much too soon.

At least today is Bathurst, a day where I was hoping to be glued to a couch all day, so the leg won't influence my life too much in the next 8 hours. The next 8-12(-?) weeks will be a totally different story. :(

Labels: achilles, netball