Achilles update - hiccups and roller-coasters

It's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote an update on how my Achilles is going, which might not seem long but has covered a range of ups and downs along the slow road of progress. This week I have two doctor appointments...one with the surgeon, Mr. Mark Blackney, on Tuesday, and then with my referring doctor, Mr. Karen Holzer, on Friday. It will be good to get their educated perspective rather than my own irrational fear and opinion!!!

Anyway, the last update was full of excitement about getting out of the CAM boot and back onto my own two feet. In reality that was more of a symbolic milestone since the actual instruction was to gradually reduce my usage of the boot and gradually increase the amount of walking and general use of my ankle / leg. So it wasn't complete freedom and it's only today that I'm having my first day of 100% non-boot lifestyle. Hooray!!!

Those first few days out of the boot were weird. My leg was weak, and my ankle stiff enough that I could only walk slowly and not very far, not to mention lacking some confidence in my stability. So I did little bits of walking and it seemed to loosen up during each day and it didn't change much. Reality hit home when my physio, Rosie, confirmed my fears (I was in denial) that it wasn't all good since the Achilles area was still swollen and puffy, and the spot where the stitch went into the Achilles was tender. I was pretty disappointed that whatever I'd done hadn't been good for it and felt that the whole recovery had been set back.

I was pretty bummed and backed off on everything to let it settle down, and started on some anti-inflams to help with the inflammation...and it worked!! Within 4 days or so there was a big turn-around where the swelling went down, the tenderness went away and the flexibility improved to the point where I could walk normally again for the first time in almost 8 weeks!! It was quite remarkable, and although there's still a long way to go I can see some positive progress which will allow me to do some measured, productive re-hab now.

I since learned from another, former AIS physio friend that it is common for a foot / leg to feel worse the first week out of a CAM boot before it gets better, something to do with the flow of blood returning to the foot and follow-on effects of that.

Funnily enough, last week on the Runner's World forum a fellow from USA posted a question about his upcoming surgery which sounded almost exactly like mine, right down to being the same heel. I replied with comments about my experience, and as is the way of the internet I got a Facebook friend request from him - Ali Engin is his name. He had his operation last week and is currently sitting around with his foot up...and telling the world about it, multiple times a day, via Facebook!! One thing he did post was a photo taken during his surgery of the operation, which was great to see since I was curious about how it looked. See the photo below (or not if you don't like surgery photos!!)...it show what my surgery would have looked like, except my scar is a lot longer.

So here I am 8 weeks and 2 days post operation and my heel feels great. I can walk normally, can stand on my toes (this is BIG achievement), do gym exercises and look ahead to gradually doing more. In theory I'm only 4 weeks away from walk-jogging, but in reality I think it will be longer since I want to make sure it's really ready to run on when I do start...whenever that is.

For now the roller coaster ride is on an upswing, and I'm hoping there's no more hiccups ahead!!

Not my surgery, but one just like mine except my scar is waaay longer!!