Only 10 days to go until I am going skiing. And boy do I have some good news.
The achilles feels great. I have (I hope) enough flexion (eg bend at the knees) to ski. I still have a little bit of pain down near the ankle but I dont think this will be a worry.
Still riding my bike heaps and working out in the gym.
Started to do alot of wobble board exercises on my bad ankle to get all the nerves operating correctly.
Still seing the OT but there is no pain there when he works on me (thank god)
Ankle is no longer swollen but the achilles tendon itself is very fat and hard from the build up of collagen. I am not sure if this will ever get back to its normal slim shape??
And, the best news of all is the place I am sking in (called Falls Creek) has had the most amazing snow falls. In my 18 years of skiing there this is the best season I have ever seen :)
1 comment:
Hi
I have been posting at the same milestones as David and I am at this point in my recovery now - 91 days post op.
I was discharged by the NHS Doctor 3 weeks ago and told to "just go about by normal duties" - but not play squash until 6 months post op. However, I have many questions that I still am unsure about, so I booked a session at the Physio last week. He informed me that the tendon will never be quite as strong as before, but that by 100 days after I started to walk around, the tendon whould be OK for squash. I have set my comeback date at 20 weeks post op, but will practice in the meantime.
In terms of the recovery, I can do virtually everything that I did before. I walk at pace for c2-3 miles each day and go the the gym 3 times a week - bike, x/trainer, wave m/c, rowing m/c. Gym sessions are around half an hour. The Physio felt that the treadmill could be dangerous, so I will leave this for another month - although I have run 1km on it a couple of weeks ago without any problems.
I have a very slight limp when walking at pace and this is due to weakness of the area between the tendon and the calf muscle. The Physio gave me some exercises to combat this, but I feel that walking is probably the best exercise. The area around the tendon is no longer swollen, although the tendon itself is very thick - c5 times as big as the good one. If I sit at a desk for very long periods, the area swells up slightly, but moving around or elevating the foot cures this.
Overall, I am really pleased with my progress. Like David, I could easily ski at this point.
I really hope that my comments help others. I was in a state of despair when I was waiting for the operation and I read on the 'net about some people saying that they had taken more than a year to get to the point where I am now. The blog gave me hope - and a target to work to.
Jeff UK
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