Tag: recovery

First Week of Freedom

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, SurgeryLeave a comment

It’s been a week since I’ve gained some small freedoms, and it’s been going pretty well overall–not perfect by any means, but not too bad. I still have quite a bit of difficulty with going up and down the stairs and a little bit of difficulty with walking. I just don’t have the strength or balance yet to move normally, and I still get pain with those activities.

As far ask biking goes, I can do that mostly pain free. I’ve kept the resistance easier than I usually would, but yesterday I allowed myself to do a sprint at the end of my ride just to see how it would go. I got to 17 mph, which isn’t the best I’ve done, but it felt great flying down the road at that speed with the wind rushing past me. People who were outside last night turned to look at me. No, I’m not narcissistic; I know they just looked because that’s what people do when they see someone outside.

In terms of work, that’s still very challenging. I’m working an extra day next week–four days instead of three. I’m nervous about it, not because of the number, but because one of them is nine hours. I’ve been working 6.5 hours since I got back, so it’s not a huge increase, but I struggle with the shorter shifts. I know I’m going to have a hard time with the longer one. It’s still too hard physically. I’ll see how it goes, but I’m going to have to tell my boss he needs to let me work shorter days for a while yet. He didn’t ask me if I was ready. I probably would have told him no, but I’m not going to complain to him after he’s inconvenienced himself to accommodate me. As long as he doesn’t suddenly decide to schedule me 40 hours without checking first, I’ll try to deal with it. I can’t work without the boot yet. When it’s comfortable to do so, then I’ll go back up to full time. I’ve also been considering the possibility that I’ll need a less physically demanding job in the future. I can’t risk re-injuring myself. However, until physical therapy is done, I can’t go anywhere. I need the insurance coverage to pay for the visits and the followups with the surgeon.

Speaking of physical therapy, I started working on some new exercises this week now that I don’t have to keep it still all the time. My usual therapist has been out of the office this week, so Monday I worked with the assistant I’ve seen a few times before. She’s nice and I feel like she does a good job. She had me working on pushing off with my toes so walking will become easier. Today, though, I worked with a therapist that floats to different clinics when they need her. She was a nice person, but not the therapist for me. She was too gentle with the manual therapy. I didn’t feel like I got any real benefit out of it. When my usual therapist or the assistant does it, I can move more easily afterward, but today it felt like it wasn’t even done even though she worked on it for ten minutes. The float therapist had me working on some of the new stuff I started this week, but made me feel bad for holding on to the bar to keep my balance while I was trying to stand on one leg. I did the best I could without holding on, but it was too difficult. Then, when I was leaving, she told me I should really be working more on my limp because it’s a bad habit to have. I felt so confused, because isn’t it her job to help me learn how to move my muscles and joints the right way again? The more pain and stiffness I have, the more I limp. I left in more pain today than when I started. I was just thrilled to be moving as well as I was. I’m certainly limping less than I was last week right after the boot came off. My session ended ten minutes early today; if she was that concerned about my limp, she should have helped me with it a little. There was only one other patient in there at the time. I just didn’t appreciate the way it was brought up as I was leaving. I’m glad next week I can work with my usual therapist. Today felt like a waste of time to me, and usually I feel like I’ve at least made a little progress.


Weary Workdays

On By LeraIn Life, SurgeryLeave a comment

It’s been a week since I started back at work. I wish I could say it was easier than the first day, but that would be a lie. Every day I work has been filled with pain. I did get to take the last wedge out of my boot, which helped marginally, but nowhere near enough to increase my comfort levels. Each step is like a slow torture, and by the end of the night I can’t walk anymore.

I scheduled some extra physical therapy to try to calm things down a little. Even the therapist seemed baffled that I was having pain in some of the areas I was. It’s just my luck that I would have to be a special case. We talked about work and its impact on my foot, and I was told that it wouldn’t be wise to work more than just part time hours right now. I was working full time before my surgery, and I was hoping to be back to that by the end of the month, but I don’t see that happening. I got called in for a shift tomorrow, which is supposed to be short since I have an appointment later in the morning. I was really hoping for another day to recover from the weekend and get it back to feeling better, but I should have known that wasn’t going to happen.

To end this very short post on a positive note, today one of the other physical therapy patients brought his dog in from his truck after his appointment was over. It was a five month old King Shepard, and super cute and friendly. It was interesting seeing everyone go into their “animal talk” voice, even the staff. I guess that’s what everyone does when they like animals. I’ll reiterate how much I love my physical therapy clinic. The other patients and the staff are so friendly, and everyone has the weirdest conversations. Today a different patient than the one with the dog was talking about how much one of the staff was “beating him up” with the exercises, and suddenly he said he needed a safe word, like couples use in the bedroom for… ahem… “stuff”. That took my mind off of how much the manual therapy was hurting because I was laughing so hard. I really don’t see why people seem to hate physical therapy. I always feel so much better after a session, even if it hurts during.

First Day Back at Work

On By LeraIn SurgeryLeave a comment

I sit in the office with my head down, trying desperately to keep the tears forming in my eyes from spilling out. My foot is throbbing and I’m only about halfway through a short shift. The next three hours seem daunting, a long, dark expanse that has no end.

Photo by Juan Pablo Arenas on Pexels.com

So went my first day back at work yesterday. I knew it was going to be difficult, but it was at least three times more challenging than I thought. I have a job where I’m on my feet all day. If I’m lucky, I can squeeze in a break to eat something at some point during my shift, but it’s not a guarantee that I get break time, which is a serious downside to being in management. The whole work day was a disaster from the moment I walked through the door. None of my applications worked properly, and I couldn’t even use my employee number to clock in. As annoying as those issues were, they were the least of my problems, and I didn’t even work a full shift.

Time: 3:55 p.m.; Pain Level: 0

I finally got the time clock to accept my punch and I was ready to start my day. I was a little apprehensive, but ready to see how things would go.

Time: 4:43 p.m.; Pain Level: 2

I was feeling a little pain at this point, but I was able to ignore it if I didn’t think about it.

Time: 5:36 p.m.; Pain Level: 6

I tried in vain to sit down and prop my foot up for a few minutes. The minute I hit the chair, I got paged. There was no more ignoring the pain. I was limping by this point in the evening.

Time: 7:30 p.m.; Pain Level: 8

I was hungry so I heated up my dinner. I was able to sit for about 15 minutes without being interrupted, which was a welcome break. Severely limping and moving very slowly. At this point, it was more like dragging my leg behind me than limping.

Time: 9:10 p.m.; Pain Level: 8

I couldn’t focus on working any more. Each step was more excruciating than the last. It wasn’t busy, so I took advantage and sat down for another 15 minutes with my head down, desperately trying not to cry from the pain.

Time: 10:29 p.m.; Pain Level: still 8

I was never more grateful to be able to punch out early and get home. I needed a painkiller for the first time since my surgery day. I was so glad I still had a full bottle on the counter at home.

Today I’ve been icing off and on all day, trying to keep some of the pain and swelling down. I was in more pain last night than I was before surgery. If it’s that severe again tomorrow, I’m going to have to call my surgeon’s office and ask their advice. I’m not about to ruin this repair, but I need the cash flow again. It’s not even just my foot that hurts. Most of my lower body is sore from walking with a limp all night, especially my left hip. I know I did a terrible job at work last night, but I’m hoping for some understanding from my boss for the next few weeks. I work hard and I always try my best, and I hope that counts for something, even if I can’t do 100% right now. I’m trying to overcome the extreme frustration I feel at this point because I know it’s only temporary. I’ve been leaning heavily on God lately, and He’ll see me through this.

12 Weeks Post Op!

On By LeraIn SurgeryLeave a comment
3 months after surgery!

This week was my last week of medical leave, and I’ll be starting work again on Tuesday; I’m definitely nervous about how it’s going to go. I get a lot of pain and some swelling in my right foot when I’m on my feet for shopping trips, but I’m hoping after a week or two working, my body will be used to it again. Some of the weird swelling from before surgery is starting to come back, so that has me troubled. I really wish I didn’t have such a physical job. I’m afraid I’m going to mess up my Achilles tendon again, and I went through too much to deal with all of this a second time. Luckily my boss was agreeable to just put me on three days next week, and possibly a short week the week after, so it should help ease me in. He told me he’d give me a day off between shifts next week to let my foot rest up. I’m certainly going to miss having unlimited time for reading (and iced coffee)!

Can’t read a good book without delicious iced coffee or tea!

It’s hard to believe it’s been three months since my surgery. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all. Things are going well. Like I said above, I get pain with prolonged weight bearing, but I was able to take one of the one inch lifts out of my boot, so it’s easier to walk now. With my foot lifted only an inch now instead of two inches, it’s in a more natural position, so I’m hoping that will help with the pain as well. I still get sore where the screws in my heel are, but that’s been improving. The scar in that area is still raised, so I’m hoping it won’t rub too much with the increased walking. Both scars still have quite a bit of thickened tissue surrounding them. It’s less than when I first started physical therapy, but it’s unlikely to decrease too much until I can go back in three weeks and continue. It’d be really nice if the health insurance company wasn’t so stingy with benefits. I can’t believe they won’t allow any extensions for physical therapy, even with proper documentation. They pay out only $27 per session; how do they not realize that improper recovery after surgery could potentially lead to another surgery, which would cost them tens of thousands of dollars? I think the tiny extra cost of more therapy sessions would be an obvious choice, but when has anything in the American health care system made sense?  Sorry for the rant, but it’s nice to get it out of my system. I’m hoping that maybe if I need more therapy, I can do cash pay for a reasonable rate. I could need up to a year of therapy, so I’m hoping an arrangement can be worked out.

One of the heel lifts in my boot. There’s no padding on the lift at all, so it’s like walking on cement all day.

I don’t have another follow-up appointment with my surgeon until the end of the month, at which point I’m hoping to be in regular shoes again. The plan is to have a half inch lift fitted into my right shoe, which I’ll be wearing for a long, long time. I think I should be able to start driving next week; I’m going to have someone take me out to a dead parking lot and make sure I can make my foot work properly. I feel like such an inconvenience because I can transport myself anywhere. By the end of the month, I’m hoping to be fully mobile in terms of driving. Most of all, I should get medical clearance to start trying to bike again! I think my surgeon will probably defer it to my physical therapist like he did with driving, but I’m okay with that as long as it will minimize my re-injury risk. Life will soon be so much more exciting! I can’t wait to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, the breeze through my hair, and that feeling of flying that only biking can give me 🙂

9.5 Weeks Post-Op

On By LeraIn Surgery2 Comments

It’s been close to ten weeks since my surgery. I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon yesterday. I’m happy to report that everything is going as expected.

I am stuck with this walking book for six more weeks, which takes me out to the very end of March. I have two heel lifts inside the boot, each one being an inch tall. Couple that with the boot already sitting up higher than a normal shoe… Yeah, it’s hard to walk when one leg is almost three inches longer than the other one. The doctor’s office gave me this thing called an “Even Up”, which attaches to the bottom of any shoe (except heels). It gives me an extra inch of height on my good leg, so if I wear an athletic shoe on the good foot, my legs are closer in length. I do still lean, though, so it’s a bit challenging to walk. One of the lifts can come out in about three weeks, so things will be easier then. I am allowed to bear as much weight on it as tolerated, so I’m hoping to work myself up to full weight before I return to work in three weeks. Right now, I estimate I can only place between 25 and 50% on it.

Not the best quality image, but you can see the Even Up on my shoe.

Monday is my first day of physical therapy; I’m so excited! I’ll be going twice a week for at least six weeks, but I have a feeling it will be more. My surgeon gave me a rehab protocol to give to the therapist that goes to 11 weeks out, so I really don’t know how long it will be for sure. It’s going to depend on the progress I can make. I’m certainly going to give it everything I’ve got; I can’t wait to get back to normal again. I’m ready to get back on my bike and get back to tennis, but in the short term, I’m ready to get back to walking normally. I knew it would be hard to start walking again, but I had no idea it would be so exhausting! It’s painful, but not too bad, and definitely not as bad yet as it was before surgery. I know that will diminish in time, but it seems so far away. I’m just going to keep my head up and count down the days until I can get back outdoors!

13 Days Out

On By LeraIn SurgeryLeave a comment

I had my first follow-up appointment this past Friday, and everything is looking really good so far! I’m hoping the news stays good throughout my recovery. I’m really glad I have the surgeon I have. Even though I inconvenienced him last week with my fall, he was still nice and joked about it with me by asking if I had any more “incidents” or if I managed to keep things quiet in the week that elapsed since then. I’m also grateful that he’s not one of those doctors who preaches about my being overweight and how it would be so much better for me and my foot to lose it. Despite being overweight, I have no problem zooming around the city on my bike, and I’m a lot faster than some of the other people I pass. The more I ride, the more in shape I become, so I appreciate not being nagged about it like some of the doctors I’ve seen in the past have done to me.

To get back on topic, I got to hear some more detail about my procedure. I knew what the surgeon was planning to do before I went in, of course, but my last appointment with him before surgery was in September, and the MRI was in July. He had told me in September that the exact plan depended on what things looked like when he got inside my foot and how much damage there was that didn’t necessarily show up on the scan. He ended up taking the Achilles tendon completely off my heel bone and cutting the damaged parts away, shaving down my bone, and then reattaching it with two small screws. I did not end up needing a tendon transfer, so that’s awesome. He also made an incision higher up and released the upper part of the tendon so it wouldn’t be so tight all the time. One of my coworkers told me before my surgery that she thought of me as bionic (because I work so hard), and that in turn I would heal fast. Well, with the screws I’m partially bionic now, but the only power it’s given me is the power to drop 50% of everything I touch.

During the appointment, I had the splint cut off and the stitches removed. I was a little anxious about the stitches coming out because I afraid it would hurt, but only two of the eleven caused discomfort. The incisions looked so gross with all the scabs and clotted blood, and there were still a few small raw spots that probably opened when the splint got pulled off (because it was sticking to my heel). They told me they were actually looking really nice for being ten days out, so as bad as they looked to me, to a trained eye, they’re doing just fine.

Incision 1 with no stitches.
Incision 2

After the stitches came out, they let me clean up the wounds a little bit, but a lot of the scabs didn’t want to come off, so I just left them. I didn’t want to open up more raw areas unnecessarily. I then got a fiberglass cast put on with my toes pointing down so everything could heal right. They had a lot of colors to pick from, so I went with a pretty baby blue. If I have to have it on for a month, I might as well have a color that looks nice.

My pretty blue cast

I go back for another follow-up in the middle of January, so hopefully things continue at a good pace. I asked if the tendon would be strong enough to play tennis on eventually, and was told that after it was properly healed, it should be fine. I haven’t been able to play tennis in over a year, and if I have to wait that long to play again, it’ll be worth it; I really miss it. There’s some new courts in a nearby town that I’d love to try out. The ones at the park down the street from me are full of chips and areas where the court is just stripped away. I also want to be ready for some bike events in the fall. I don’t know how possible it might be, but I’m going to give my rehab everything I’ve got when it starts. I’m ready to get back to the activities I enjoy without having pain slow me down.

Post Op Week 1

On By LeraIn SurgeryLeave a comment

One week out from surgery and I’m doing well. I’ve had almost no pain since my surgery. The nerve blocks I was sent home with lasted me four and a half days. It was strange living with a numb foot for so many days, but much preferable to the pain I would have had otherwise. It was an odd sensation pulling the wires out of my leg because they went in there a good couple of inches, but it didn’t hurt. They slid out easily and it was a great feeling to get rid of all that tape covering most of my thigh. Any pain I have had has been more of a discomfort. I’ve come home from work with my foot feeling a whole lot worse than I’m feeling now, so I really have no reason to complain about it.

This isn’t even all of the wires I had to deal with. I had another one under my knee that can’t be seen.

The second day after my surgery, I woke up in the middle of the night needing the restroom. I was half asleep and trying to wrangle my crutches and I ended up losing my balance, stepping right on the surgical foot (which is supposed to be non weightbearing), and falling on that leg. It was a long night after that waiting for the doctor’s office to open to find out what they wanted me to do. I ended up having to go into the office so my surgeon could look at it and make sure I didn’t do any damage. Thankfully he said it looked fine and warned me not to make the mistake of using my crutches while I wasn’t fully awake.

Pretty much the rest of the week, I’ve just been laying around. I have to keep my foot elevated above my heart almost all the time. I’m only allowed to get up for 15 minutes each hour, and I’ve also had to ice an hour on and an hour off all day. Once my official follow-up appointment comes, I may get to have a little more leeway in being up and about; it’s all going to depend on what my surgeon says. I’m definitely ready to get out of the house for a while. It’s been a little lonely being cooped up and not being able to do much more than watch TV or read a book.

Living my life from the reclining chair. So exciting!

My biggest hope for this whole process is that I achieve a full recovery. My surgeon told me realistically that this surgery has about an 80% success rate, and a lot of that is going to be dependent on how well I follow all the rules and the physical therapy regimen. I’m keeping my hopes high!