Post #2

I found reading blog posts (http://www.achillestendonblog.com/) about other peoples experiences with achilles tendon ruptures both scary and reassuring. The ortho appointment was interesting. It was a full rupture. I "failed" the Thompson's test and he noted that there is a gap in the tendon with possibly a few fibers still connecting it. The gap in it is really noticeable now. He thinks I will be a good candidate for a full recovery. I left the office with a walking boot and don't need crutches until after the surgery.

I have to admit that the exact dates for the different steps in the process flew by me in the conversations, but for the moment I just get to keep it comfortable and avoid further injury. He wants fibrin (?) to fill in the heads of the tendon so he can perform what is supposed to be a 20 minute surgery. Basically, he will stitch the two ends of the tendon back together and that will be it. The incision should only be an inch or two. Surgery will be sometime early next week. A couple of weeks and I get to start working it out again lightly. He thinks I should be walking by the Joint Statistical Meetings the first week in August.

I am feeling more positive about this today than yesterday. I know it will be a long process, but I will be more active sooner than I had expected. It was nice to get the splint off my leg and be able to do some icing again as my ankle was a bit swollen and starting to turn black and blue. I do love my garage sale polarcare 300 for icing - so much better and safer than ice or ice packs.

I have been fascinated that there are people looking at my blog. I have my work website and I know it gets some traffic but never know how much or who is looking  at it. If I knew how many people were looking at it, I would probably spend more time making it look nice.

I think I am finally getting an interest in working again. This week has mostly been lost for work and I hate that my recreation has cut into my work this much. I pride myself on keeping the two separate and using my recreation time to benefit my work. Usually I do this by either sorting out problems while doing fun stuff or having more energy when I am at work because of doing the fun stuff. In recent years, I have definitely recognized that if you are not healthy, you can only be productive for a short amount of time. Taking time to be healthy increases productivity, at least for me, except this week.