I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIVE

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/24/2020 at 08:08 • Filed to: None

I had my achilles surgery yesterday afternoon. So far, so good! Weirdly enough, my pain level is totally manageable. I’m taking a combination of a little percocet plus plain old regular aspirin. And yeah, sure, it hurts some, but I’m far from hating life or anything like that.

To be honest, I’m a little baffled as to why I haven’t been hurting more. The initial snap of the tendon was a surprise of course, but the whole time before surgery I barely felt any pain at all, and could put some weight in the bad leg, even though the ankle & achilles area was fairly swollen. The explanations I’ve gotten from the ER doc and orthopedist include:

There just aren’t that many nerve endings in the part of the leg where the tendon split.

The tendon ruptured on it s own, not as part of some larger, more traumatic injury.

All the other foot and ankle muscles and tendons are totally fine.

Truly, the only time I’ve felt actual, OUCH-level pain was right before surgery when the orthopedist had to push into the back of my leg to mark the spot where the tendon had broken. “Let me know where it hurts,” he said. When he got to the spot, I believe my exact words were “YEP THERE WE GO!”

I don’t say all this to humblebrag or anything like that. I just...expected this to suck a lot more than it has, I guess.

It’s early going but I’m cautiously optimistic that by Monday I’ll be able to return to my “office” that I’ve been using since my injury.

DISCUSSION (16)

facw > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 08:27

Glad it went well!

Your cat is a good dog

Textured Soy Protein > facw
09/24/2020 at 08:31

Thanks!

Many people have referred to Oliver as dog-like over the years. He’s a big fluffy 15 lb siamese who’s totally obsessed with me (in a good way).

Kinja'd!!!

i86hotdogs > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 08:43

Happy recovery! My BIL tore his playing basketball. The time before his surgery was similar to yours: minimal pain. What he noticed more was clearly lack of strength in the ankle. Apparently it’s more of a “ strength and balance injury than a pain injury” says the BIL who is also a nurse

Sovande > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 08:51

Glad it went well. Hope the pain stays away. I don’t take opiates, but I managed all my knee surgery recovery using Advil and swearing.

dumpsterfire! > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 08:51

good! now time to shop for a hot rod knee scooter?

Cash Rewards > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 09:07

Was it partial tear or a complete tear? For tendons and ligaments, partial tears supposedly hurt more, as nerves are still intact to fire off pain signals. Complete tears don't hurt as much because the nerves are too damaged to tell you.

Textured Soy Protein > dumpsterfire!
09/24/2020 at 09:08

The orthopedist mentioned he’d probably recommend I get a scooter at some point. The thing is, at least inside the house it won’t save me that much effort, because I’m in a 3-level townhouse where each of the floors isn’t all that big. The main floor with the kitchen, dining room and the smaller of our TVs has hard floors which would be ideal for scooting , but there’s one step that goes down from the dining room to the TV room. Once I start *leaving* the house I bet the scooter will be much more handy.

He’s not a fan of knee crutches . Those looked kinda interesting, at least when I was first getting used to going up there many many stairs in my house with the non-weight bearing hop method. But with almost a week to practice that technique before I was actually non-weight bearing status, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I' m very much about doing what the medical people tell me. So, scooter it is!

Textured Soy Protein > i86hotdogs
09/24/2020 at 09:12

That makes sense. The message to me has consistently been that I’ll need to put in the work with PT, which I’m actually kinda looking forward to as a new fitness challenge. Hell, I asked the orthopedist how soon I’ll be able to at least do upper body workouts and I can at least do all that stuff within a couple weeks from now if I’m feeling up to it. I want to keep as much of that strength up both for its own sake and to help with PT.

Textured Soy Protein > Cash Rewards
09/24/2020 at 09:13

Complete. So yeah that probably has something to do with it.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 09:22

Glad you’re doing OK! Also, kitty snuggles ! :)

i86hotdogs > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 09:25

PT will definitely help. I tore ligaments in my righ t ankle playing college ball. Even after strenuous PT, my right calf decreased in size a bit. You can definitely notice looking at both of em side by side. Even though I am right dominant, my one leg jump is a lot shorter on my right leg ever since.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 09:29

Damn. How did you manage to snap a tendon? (or is that unknown ) Years ago I had a small bicep tendon tear from working out; holding my newborn 6lb sons with that arm made me wince. Seemed like it took forever for that to heal - connective tissue injuries sure take their time. Hang onto those leftover Percocets - think street value .

Textured Soy Protein > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
09/24/2020 at 10:05

I snapped it playing tennis.

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/might-be-a-lil-bit-before-i-can-actually-drive-my-new-c-1845091820

My surgeon just called me to follow up and he mentioned that while doing the surgery, he noticed the tendon looked like it had a fair amount of tendinitis before it snapped. So that’s what led to it. He said he often sees that when doing achilles repairs but I had a little *more* than he usually sees.

Cash Rewards > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 10:07

Gad you're recovering

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Textured Soy Protein
09/24/2020 at 10:12

And just like that, he fell out of the men’s ranking...

Speedy recovery, chum. I imagine the pt is going to be tough, but good to hear there’s little post-op pain.

Textured Soy Protein > i86hotdogs
09/24/2020 at 10:18

Turns out I’m probably starting PT next Friday already. That’s when my post-op is scheduled for, and when my surgeon called to follow up this morning he mentioned I could t ack on my first PT to that appointment, since they have a PT clinic in their office.

I’m not expecting miracles, and I’m not some kind of high level athlete. I’m just a 38 year old gym rat who plays tennis occasionally. As long as I can get back to being a stronger than average individual I'm good.