No neighbors volunteering for a sponge bath?

Not ideal but glad you are managing. Day by day. Every day better tator.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Not ideal but glad you are managing. Day by day. Every day better tator.

Yes, recovering from this is a marathon not a sprint so I'll have to cherish small victories.

My surgeon told me his goal for me was to be walking in tennis shoes in 10-weeks (i.e. no knee scooter and no walking boot) which would be Dec 24th.

Speaking of small victories, yesterday's cutting the hydrocodone-acetaminophen pill in half and combining with 1/2 a Tylenol was a success. Less side effects (e.g. grogginess) and I have new sensations in my calf/heel but it's not pain. Considering transitioning to 100% Tylenol this evening.

Good job on the pain control. Just stay away from the Motrin until the healing is done.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Good job on the pain control.

Thx Doc

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Just stay away from the Motrin until the healing is done.

Can you clarify this? Since surgery, my surgeon has had me taking 800 mg ibuprofen at 8 hour intervals for anti-inflammatory, and I used one acetaminophen 625 to replace the hydrocodone-acetaminophen 10/325.

Do you mean avoid taking anything additional that contains ibuprofen as I'm already on ibuprofen or do you mean that it's a bad idea to combine ibuprofen and acetaminophen?

My splint is integrated with my 14 day bandage (i.e. can't be taken off w/o 3 hour round trip to surgeon's office), and the plastic brace locations makes icing ineffective. The ibuprofen is essentially my only effective anti-inflammatory.

Motrin impairs the body’s natural healing process. Inflammation is supposed to occur. That’s how the good things get to the site of injury and the bad things get taken away.

I was under the old impression as well when I destroyed my ankle. Take away the pain anyway you can and it’s a good thing. I eschewed the Percocet and replaced it with 800 of Motrin three times a day for several months. It worked well, but led to impaired healing and ultimately a total joint replacement. I have since revised my feelings on narcotics. If you can do without them, that’s great. But use them as intended and they are wonderful drugs.

BTW, I have a good friend who ruptured her right Achilles about three years ago. She wasn’t back to work for almost five months. No weight bearing for two-plus months. She’s a bigger gal, so perhaps the surgeon was concerned with putting that much weight on the tendon (her assumption, not mine). She also said that it was almost a year before she was relatively normal following the surgery, which is in keeping with most things orthopedic: Six months to be relatively functional and another six months to be your new normal. Good luck to you. You’ll get there, you just need to be patient.

My wife had a torn Achilles Tendon repaired and a large bone spur removed . Probably about age 58 . Doctor put her in a wheelchair . Absolutely NO pressure on her foot. I don't remember the recovery time but it was long .

I just asked her about it .Eight weeks with NO weight on it . Three different casts because they would change the angle of her ankle . A boot after the cast finally came off and she was allowed to walk on it .

Thanks Gus, I'll start weening myself odd the ibuprofen

Thanks selogic

My wife has an appointment with her Pain Management Doctor this month . I'm going to ask him about this Ibuprofen thing .

Today was 2 weeks since surgery plus today was a milestone so I thought it was a good time for some updates:

I have been experiencing nerve pain for about 1.5 weeks now. I never experienced nerve pain on previous orthopedic surgeries of knees or shoulder, but they say they are two nerves in the ankle near the incision sites. Gabapetin has been marginally effective, and I have to drink caffeine to counteract drowsiness.

I cannot sit in a regular chair longer than 20 minutes or in a recliner longer than 25 minutes. I'm basically a human rotisserie chicken - elevate while laying on back, elevate while laying on left side, elevate while laying on stomach, and repeat. It's my right Achilles tendon and I'm not flexible enough to elevate right ankle above my heart from my right side.

last Friday, they removed the integrated brace and bandage, inspected the stitches (no infection and look good), and then put me in a cast. Unfortunately, the cast made the nerve pain worse.

last Friday, the surgeon's office told me about a pharmacy that specializes in worker's comp and they're awesome. CVS was beyond awful at worker's comp and there are more CVS comments later in post.

last Saturday, started a newer, non-narcotic, non-constipating, brand-name pain killer for moderate or higher pain. I refused to go back on the narcotic pain killer as I had a family member become addicted post-surgery to same drug (i.e. the primary reason I only used full strength 72 hrs, and 1/2 strength another 24 hrs). The new medication worked, but only got me back to the where I was before the cast.

last Sunday, I purchased a gel kneepad and was able to use its integrated Velcro straps to attach it to my knee scooter. 1000% improvement in knee arthritis discomfort while using the knee scooter.

today, they cut that infernal cast off me, removed the sutures (that felt like the incision was on fire), installed wedges and heel cup in my old walking boot, and put me back in a walking boot. The good news is I do not have to wear the walking boot except when I'm up and about, and it feels amazing to lay on the couch with just an ace bandage. When I am up and about, I am still using the knee scooter and the walking boot is just a safety device.

In two weeks, I will begin walking on the walking boot with crutches

In two weeks, I will begin physical therapy. Will likely be in physical therapy for five or six months.

Speaking of the nerve pain, it kind of builds up and I need to either get it elevated or rotate elevation positions. It's built too far twice now and I didn't have my proudest moments:

CVS fouled up the Gabapentin prescription about 1.5 weeks ago, and it was 8 PM so they weren't even busy. Their IT geniuses decided to upgrade their systems during normal business hours so it turned off my ability to answer pharmacist's questions in their app and it turned off the pharmacist's ability to see messages sent from the app. I had used the app message to instruct to bill Worker's Comp and provided worker's comp information for the 2nd time (they fouled up worker's comp for the after surgery meds too). I arrived 2 hours after they said it was ready, but found that they had billed my regular insurance. Then, it took forever to redo the paperwork, CVS still couldn't bill worker's comp (i.e. had to use my personal credit card for the 2nd time), and before they'd allow me to pay via credit card the pharmacist took 15 minutes to come over to listen to my answer to the question asked in the app. The nerve pain continued to build during the hour I was there (yes, 1-hour to pick up a prescription that was already filled and the pharmacy wasn't busy), I began sweating like I was exercising, I became grumpier and grumpier, and I became more and more impatient to the point of tapping my fingernails on the counter. I just wanted to pay, and get home to elevate. I despise apologies combined with excuses, but ended up apologizing to the cashier for being grumpy then proceeded to be a hypocrite by adding the excuse of the overwhelming nerve pain.

I was trying to extend one of the elevated positions (i.e. next position I alternate is stomach which makes watching TV nearly impossible) to watch Monday's exciting back and forth MLB World Series game and I stayed in that position way too long. Between pitches, I had been browsing Sigforum and failed to recognize how grumpy I was becoming. I ended up posting harshly in a thread and apologized two hours later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

As the old idiom goes, "when it rains, it pours"

Long story short: Shared wood fence in backyard blew down last night. It will be the 4th thing I've had to hire out that I'd normally DIY.

Full version:
At the peak of Houston's hot, humid, miserable summer I noticed that my back wood fence had 2 posts with that tell tale lean that it needs to be replaced soon. I've been retrofitting 2-3/8" metal fence posts and attaching to existing wood fence. I had that in Alaska and it lasts an order of magnitude longer than wood 4x4's in our crummy soil. However, it's work best done once it cools off as it's a lot of work:

day 1 - digging holes and placing posts in fast setting concrete

day 2 - attaching the wood fence to the posts.

We didn't have any hurricanes this year, and I thought I dodged a bullet. However, yesterday we had a nasty wind storm and I woke up this morning to the shared wood fence in backyard blown over. Neighbor I share the fence with has a 120 lb dog I really don't trust and they don't pay it a lot of attention because their attention rightfully goes to their kid who is on the far end of the spectrum.

Now, I have to talk my neighbor into splitting the cost (he doesn't DIY anything), hire a contractor that I don't know, and spend way more money that DIY.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

We were at ORHS last night when the wind picked up.
They're demo-ing part of the school to rebuild & have chain link with mesh barrier attached. It blew over a fair bit of it & that was even with the school bldg blocking some of the wind.

If I had the time, and a few spare hands, I'd gladly assist with the repairs.

I asked the Pain Management Doctor about the Ibuprofen issue . He said that the Jury is still out on NSAID's . There are studies that indicate that they might interfere with wound healing but they just don't know definitively. Many Surgeons avoid them .

I've seen surgeries where they used umbilical cord tissue, wrapped like a burrito around the repair and a patient was active in 30 to 45 days. Full range of motion no scar tissue. The company that produces the tissue is called Amniox. The outcomes are astonishing!

I had two major milestones this week so it's a good time for an update:

Wednesday was the 4 week mark since surgery so I was cleared to begin walking with crutches while wearing my walking boot. That first step I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was 100% pain free. So far just walking in the house and on back porch, but planning to venture out the front door soon. The heel wedges installed in the walking boot are very tall right now so it works best to have a cowboy boot on good foot. Approximately every two weeks they should be removing a wedge so it'll be easier and easier to match heights on my good foot.

Friday was my first physical therapy appointment so it was mostly an evaluation. I really like the therapist, and even better it was 100% pain free. I've had a lot of atrophy from casts, splints, and no weight bearing on walking boot (i.e. it's been more of a safety device) so it felt like an alien foot as he moved around. He put something similar but slightly different than a TENS unit on my calf muscles to wake them up and that felt both weird and good. I have a 3x per day range of motion regimen to do before my next PT appointment. All in all, a very positive milestone and I'll be going twice a week for the foreseeable future.

A few non-milestone updates:

The nerve pain is much better but it's not gone. I can go longer and longer before it builds up, and I need to elevate to prevent it from becoming overwhelming. For example, tonight I went out for Mexican with a buddy and made it nearly 3 hours without elevating which is a nice improvement from my Oct 29th post of it being 20 minutes.

The fence contractor did an awesome job replacing the blown over fence. He did it for a fair price and it's much stronger (e.g. 7' between 4x4s instead of 8' between 4x4s) than the old fence that lasted 9.5 years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

Great update on foot and fence. Congrats.

Glad to hear some positive progress.

I had a major milestone today so it's a good time for another update.

At today's PT, I walked in tennis shoes for the first time since my injury in September (i.e. I've been in a cast, a brace, and a walking boot with various aids such as knee scooter and crutches). The surgeon's goal was to have me walking between Dec 24th and Jan 7th so I beat the goal by a few days.

I started out walking circles around the trainer's table in case I lost balance, then I walked out in the open room, and then I walked across the room to the legpress machine. It's not a text book walk, but it's not a pegleg Pete walk either. Walking heel toe feels a little odd, but it didn't hurt.

I'll still be in the boot the majority of the time, but every day am supposed to increase amount of time walking around house in tennis shoes. Feels good to be making progress on the path back to normalcy.

That is great to hear TT. Glad you are on target.
That has been more of a recovery than I think most us would assume a ruptured Achilles would take.
Most of these athletes are younger and more malleable then us older fella's