I had a complete rupture of my left achilles playing soccer last June. It happened late at night so I didn't go to emergency room as I didn't think it was that bad. it hurt but wasn't as painful as I though an achilles rupture would be. I made an appointment with a podiatrist for the next morning. She confirmed that it was fully ruptured. She put me in a air cast boot with wedges and booked me into an ultrasound for that afternoon and the emergency room at Peter Lougheed to get the temporary splint. That all happened on a Friday. I met with the surgeon, Dr. Le, Monday morning at the Peter Lougheed cast clinic. He is only there on Mondays. He took a look and thought I'd be fine in a full cast and it would heal on it's own.
After 3 weeks in the cast I was put back into the air boot with wedges and everything looked good. The next day I lost my balance and put my foot down really hard and re-popped the achilles. I called the surgeon and he get me into an ultrasound with one of the doctors for the Stamps and Olympic team (can't remember his name). He confirmed that it re-popped but only partially. I had surgery 2 days later.
I got around on a 3 wheel "off road" knee scooter I bought on Amazon. I also bought an iWalk 2.0 to peg leg around the house. Crutches just sucked. I was actually able to mow the yard using the iWalk. All the mobility devices were out of pocket expenses but I'll get some back when I sell them.
I was non-weight bearing from early June until mid-August. Then in the air cast and wedges until mid-September or so. It's been a long recovery period and still tightens up on me. I still can't run on it but can go skiing (solid boot doesn't let it move), skate, and cycle.
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