Achilles update - good-bye crutches!!

Today was a little milestone in the journey, with the first follow-up appointment with the surgeon since the operation. Although the stitches were due to be taken out, I was expecting a few more days on crutches before I got some mobility back on my own two feet. I was really looking forward to learning a bit more about what they found during the surgery, and the overall prognosis.

Being a wimp I dosed up on pain killers beforehand in anticipation of the stitches removal and trundled up on a couple of trams expecting the worst. How pathetic I was…I barely felt a thing as the fine thread was pulled out. Maybe the pain killers did work??!! The scar looked pretty good and the surgeon was pleased with his work, and that there was minimal swelling of my ankle. This scar will last at least a couple more decades!!

The surgeon doing the work today was David Su, who was the first person I met during my initial appointment a few weeks ago. He’s been doing an orthopedic fellowship with Mark Blackney (the primary specialist I saw) for 10 months, and is soon to return to the Singapore General Hospital as a consultant orthopedic surgeon in his own right. He was a super nice guy when we first met, which continued with his warm welcome as I was wheeled into the operating theatre…and again today. We share somewhat of a kindred spirit, David having done the Bussleton Ironman and the Paris marathon, so sporting endeavours became our common topic of conversation.

After tidying up my heel he explained what happened during the operation, which included a range of terms I didn’t understand. Fortunately my babel fish helped in giving me a laymans explanation. Basically, my Achilles had some marked degeneration and there were a number of bone fragments which were the result of some calcification in the area which had broken loose. So they cleaned things up, removed the bone fragments and used a thing called a Topaz wand on the tendon to stimulate healing. They were pretty happy with their work, and David’s comments were that it should be better than it was before (in terms of the overall health of the tendon)…but it wouldn’t be like a 19 year old’s tendon!!! I was flattered with the comparison to a 19 yo, being a 40 yo relic…

The best news of the visit is that I could get off the crutches and into the CAM (Controlled Ankle Motion) boot for the next few weeks. Hooray!!! After 11 days I was sick of them, so it was great to be able to toss them aside…although geez my ankle has stiffened up and I’ll actually still need the crutches until it loosens up in a day or so. At least I can put some weight on the foot now. So after sincerely thanking David I headed out with my renewed freedom.

Next up is quite a bit of physio work to get flexibility and mobility back, and gradually strength in the ankle and tendon as it recovers. Hasten slowly, is the motto for the weeks and months ahead…

The stitches coming out. Like very fine fishing line.

With the stitches out - it's looking pretty good and a nice big scar!!

Surgeon Dr. David Su and me. That's someone else's ankle he's holding...