Since December is over, the dust is finally settling. I work for an online gift retailer and we’re so busy for Christmas, the entire month of December is always a blur. We’re a multi-million dollar “small” company, which means we’re “all hands on deck” for our busiest holidays. Regardless of our positions with the company, we could be helping customer service, shipping and receiving, or any other department that needs help. Our ability to band together during the busiest of times is part of what helps us stay lean. We bring temps in for the holidays, but most of us spend almost every waking hour working, from the office or from home. So after all that, it takes me a couple of weeks after Christmas to really return to the land of the living.
It seems like a lot has happened since I blogged last, but I’m still pretty much in the same place as I was a month ago. I met with my doctor to get the MRI results and the verdict is surgery. I have achilles tendinosis, which is degenerative, so the damaged part of my achilles seems to be injured beyond repair with regular treatment like physical therapy. My doctor is having me continue with physical therapy for another month in case a third month of no running magically makes it better. My next appointment is January 25th and that’s when we’ll talk surgery specifics.
What my doctor has told me so far is that there are two possible surgical solutions. The first being the old tried and true – cut out the damaged portion of the achilles and reattach the remaining achilles. Once he gets in there, if it looks like there is more damaged achilles than the MRI leads him to believe, he would remove the damaged portion of the achilles and replace it with another tendon. Recovery time is a whopping 6 months. I’d be walking without crutches or a boot after 3 months, but apparently it would be 6 months before complete recovery with normal, pain free running. It will be great to run again, but from what I’ve heard of this surgery and recovery, I’m ok with putting it off a little while.
The second potential surgery would be much less invasive. It’s called TOPAZ. Unfortunately, insurance isn’t likely to cover it because it’s still fairly new. I’m not sure how 5 years with millions of success stories is new, but that’s what I’ve heard so far. With TOPAZ, the doctor makes an incision about an inch long and uses a radio frequency wand to remove the damaged portions of the achilles. Complete recovery time is about half the time of the traditional surgery and probably not as bad in the early stages of recovery either. Sounds like the much better choice right? I’m not sure what the outcome of this will be so here’s to hoping my insurance will cover TOPAZ. I’ll post as I learn more.
I hadn’t been going to physical therapy for the last couple of weeks of December and I hadn’t been working out the week of Christmas and the week after. With the lack of activity, my achilles hasn’t been hurting that bad. I started to tell myself that maybe PT was working after all and I don’t need surgery. Then I walked a couple of miles with a running buddy and I was set straight. It wasn’t horrid pain, but it did hurt a bit and the more I do, the faster the constant pain will return. It seems like once my achilles gets aggravated, it doesn’t allow me to keep going. I can’t increase my speed (running or walking); I can’t properly push off my foot, and I get a little limp that I can’t control. This is an incredibly frustrating experience. I want to get back to running so badly. Trying to keep a positive attitude though.
Besides the last couple of weeks, I have been cross training a lot. Not as much cardio because even the elliptical makes my achilles mad after a short while, but I’ve been lifting weights, getting pretty strong too. Of course, you probably wouldn’t have guessed that if you saw me at the gym on January 1st. I struggled to do the same weight I lifted just a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure I’ll be back to where I left off very soon. I could have been having a hard time just because I’m still tired from December.
I know it takes consistency and that scares me a little. I go back to school tomorrow, on top of an already hectic schedule with work, family, home, etc. Then our Valentine’s Day rush at work is just a month away and I’m looking at surgery in the near future. I am left with the nagging feeling, like always, that I just need to get it together, be a little more organized, have a little more energy, be a little more than I am. I can do this, right? Yes, yes I can…Stay tuned and I promise to post about the journey much more often.
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