What were the downsides for not having surgery? Did he think you’ll heal that way? If not, would you impact the success of a future surgery?
Not trying to suggest you should go that way…just wondering.
-D/a
The 2nd doc - the Ravens guy - pretty much confirmed everything that the first one did. The non-surgical option is fine, but the recovery would be longer. I’d have to wear a cast for a month. The only downside of the surgery option is potential infection from the sutures. The blood supply is low there. They both said that it’s a pretty simple surgery and pretty short. It will last about 40 minutes. They said to limit lying down and immediately attempt to let some weight on it. The earlier the mobilization the better, with reasonable limits. The Ravens guy thought that I might be able to play basketball again in 3 months. Fat chance!
My surgery is scheduled for Thursday at 2:30pm. I learned that zero pain is common with complete tears. The Ravens doc talked about a woman who walked around for over a week with her foot basically flopping around.
Nah, I had a regular walker, like this one. With a basket on the front, like this one. My apartment had stairs, so I couldn’t use it to enter and leave the house. But let me tell you, it made living alone without the use of one leg a LOT easier. (I initally busted my leg in 1996, and I only recall seeing the knee walkers like those linked above in the past couple of years.)
I misread the title and thought your Achilles tendon had been Raptured. Hmmm… aren’t we getting picky now, God?
Well, so much for no pain. I hadn’t slept for more than a couple of hours over the 2 days since the injury. With the somewhat optimistic discussions with the docs, I felt a little relieved so was able to sleep about 6 hours last night. I wish I hadn’t. I awoke with significant pain. Now I really can’t wait for that surgery tomorrow!
:::cringes for the OP:::
I used a knee scooter last year after I broke my foot. Mostly it was a bit of a pain to use: literally painful for the knee of the involved leg, and it wasn’t as maneuverable as I’d have liked (there were times I’d have to pick it up and re-aim it). Also, on rough pavement you have to be very careful especially if you’re tooling along at a reasonable speed: one sudden bump and it’s ass over teakettle. I managed to avoid the actual falling part of that sequence, by keeping an eye out and mastering the quick handlebar jerk as I came to the obstacle.
The weight balance was imperfect as well. Because the wheels don’t go out in front of the handlebar much (at all, really), you’re leaning on the handlebar, and all your weight is at that level or higher, so if you hit an obstacle and the scooter stops and your torso doesn’t, there’s a real risk of tipping over.
It was a pain in the neck the time I tried using it for grocery shopping - hard to steer the cart AND the scooter. I just made my husband do the shopping for a couple of months.
So, in my case it was a good adjunct to crutches (or cane, I only used the crutches for the first 10 days or so), but not perfect.
I knew a fellow who used one for months (ankle reconstruction after a war injury, lucky to keep the leg) and got pretty used to it. If you’re on smooth surfaces (like in a building), it can definitely give you better mobility, and be more stable, than with crutches.
It’s hard to find the scooters for rent - I phoned several local DME providers (major metropolitan area) and none of them had them in stock. I wound up renting one online, for roughly half the cost of purchase. In your case you might want to consider purchasing. For me, I only really needed it for a fairly short time (Scout trip) so I decided to rent.
Oh - and look into getting a temporary handicapped hangtag. Even if you avoid using it much, there will be times when you simply don’t feel up to a longer walk. I asked for one at the first ortho visit, when I had a hell of a time just getting inside the doctor’s office building. Of course it wouldn’t have helped me that day - being in a hospital setting, there were no handicapped spaces available the next time I went in.
I didn’t even know you could do that to an Achilles until a friend described doing that almost verbatim to your account. Again with basketball and he added it was like one of those old window blinds that would suddenly curl up and flap flap flap.
I don’t remember all the specifics, this must have been near 20 years ago now but he had it stapled (?) and it eventually healed up just fine.
I hope in the 20 years since, medicine has reduced the recovery time to an appreciable degree.
Seconded. I had to do this several times after various surgeries - in IL at that time, they would even let the doctor fax in the application form, and it only took about a week. It’s worth it, really! And in IL, it entitles the bearer to park at meters without feeding the meter (though I got a lot of erroneous tickets for that).
I have seen many of these over the years in the Emergency Department. The right history, a definitive Simmonds (Thompson) test and relatively small amount of pain pretty much says “ruptured achilles.”
Complete ruptures often make a nice snapping sound when they happen, and pain is variable, though it’s very common not to have very much. It’s nothing near as painful as a torn muscle, especially if the tendon itself is the only thing that tore.
Walking is not usually all that difficult because there is nothing wrong with weight-bearing. What you cannot do is actively plantar flex the foot, and you can walk–hobble, sort of–without doing that. You’re just unstable and you can’t push off the planted foot.
If you are youngish or active, my personal choice would be to opt for surgical repair, particulary if you have a fairly pure rupture of the achilles tendon itself. If it’s just a broad tear and everything is just mush in there, a different story maybe. That’s why only a good ortho is the place to get advice. And your second opinion is exactly the way to go. I’m sure you’ve read the pros and cons.
I like those little knee walker carts and I think they give much more mobility than crutches. YMMV.
I think 6 months is optimistic for a return to full activity if full activity includes tennis, soccer, etc. For regular things, sure, esp if you opt for surgery (again, a personal opinion), but for really strenuous things, more like 9-12 months.
In my case, we went straight from the doctor to the DMV, and I had the hangtag 20-30 minutes later. Too bad there wasn’t a drive-through window there, though (hobbling inside was NOT a fun experience).
In Washington DC, supposedly you could also park w/o feeding the meters though I think they’ve stopped that.
But yeah, it’s a good idea to ask for (and get, beforehand!) one just in case. I think I may have used mine maybe 4 times. It was of mixed usefulness: a number of places, the regular spaces were pretty close and I didn’t bother (why use the handicapped space when someone worse off might have needed it), a couple of times where I really needed it, there were none available at all, and one time even the handicapped spaces were far enough that getting inside was a problem. But there was that one time when we were trying to park at a very crowded shopping center, few spaces at all, anywhere, and there was a handicapped space near the store - yay! If it hadn’t been for that, I couldn’t have shopped there that day at all.
A pull, a stretch, a tear, or an out-and-out pop/snap (like I had) are all different. I was runing to first & it popped like I’d been shot. I got sewn together & casted for several weeks before I could even start stretching that rock stiff reconstructed tendon.
I was told I was so bad that it was like trying to reattach too-short spaghetti. 
Hurts like you don’t want to know what. You will have a scar.
Go. Slow. Best advice I can give…
feel better
Thanks for all your support, guys! My surgery is in 3 years.
Not so handy if one is in Chicago - the relevant office is in Springfield, which is a drive of several hours. 
Three years??
I massively broke my leg a couple of years ago and, as soon as I could, began using a cane instead of crutches.
Canes free up one of your hands completely, and are great for pushing stuff open and pulling stuff toward you. I heartily recommend them when you’re injured.
A cane is fine if you can bear weight on the foot, but if you’re in a toe down cast it’s not an option.
As for the whole knee scooter thing I can’t see how it can be used by the OP
[QUOTE=Jacknifed Juggernaut]
The only issue is that I have to deal with steps and escalators quite a bit in NY. And I use 3 floors of my house.
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Plus I think it looks dorky.
Damn that whole American health insurance thing really does suck!
I’m guessing hours, hope it went well.
Home now. Of course I meant 3 hours. 
Surgeon said it went well. He used a combination of the Krackow knot and some other. I will take aspirin daily to prevent blood clots and an antibiotic for 2 days. I also have percoset as needed although I’m hoping to avoid them. I’ll see once the pain wears off from the local anesthesia.
All good then. It’s a weird feeling as the pull things back together eh? Mine hurt a lot once the anesthetic wore off. the nurse gave me ibuprofin I think (I stayed in overnight).
Yes, there’s pain and itching and I can’t tell which one is worse. The Ortho said to see him in 10 - 14 days when he’ll remove the splint and put me into a walking boot (assuming all looks normal).