Saturday 4/28/12 2:30 PM. Playing SOBO co-ed two hand touch football. I catch a pass and make a cut that Adrian Peterson would be proud of but feel what I can only describe as someone throwing a basketball at the back of my leg. I fall immediately and I know that something isn't right and I am pretty sure I just tore my Achilles tendon.
A couple of my teammates walk me over to the sidelines where I sit with ice and assess my situation. I know a guy at work who tore his achilles and i remember his story. Out of work for weeks, on crutches for weeks, not walking for 6-8 weeks. I know this is going to suck.
My buddy Drew drives me back to my house in my car... burning my clutch the entire way. If the clutch is the achilles heel of the transmission, than I wouldnt be surprised if my car needs surgery too. He stays for a bit chit-chatting and then I am left with getting a gameplan together on getting this thing diagnosed and fixed.
I call my health insurance who conveniently had a NurseLine on the back of the card. The woman is very helpful and says to go to a local urgent care and get a diagnosis. I call my Mom, have her pick me up, and go to Patient First. The people at Patient First were excellent. I got X-Rays just to make sure there was no bone damage and the doctor performed the Thompson Test to see if the achilles was indeed ruptured... and it was. Even my Mom noticed the difference pretty easily. The doctor then checked basic reflexes and some other basic medical checks. He got me a prescription for some painkillers and had a splint put on my ankle to help stabilize and protect my heel. I also got crutches which will be my best friend for the next 2 months. I also asked him to put a referral there to see my old orthopedist Dr. Leslie Matthews.
I left Patient First and spent the night at my Mom's house. Mom' are great for injuries like this. She was great when I tore my ACL (both times) and when I got my wisdom teeth taken out.
The next day, I started to educate myself on what I was facing. There is a whole internet community dedicated to the recovery from torn achilles tendons. I also started looking for a surgeon to do the work. My friend's dad is a local doctor and he recommended Towson Orthopedics. My mother also works in orthopedic surgery at Hopkins so she knew some people as well. In the end, I made a call list consisting of Union Memorial (Dr. Matthews) and Towson Orthopedics. Since it was Sunday, I would have to wait till the next morning to make my calls.
The real issue with this type of injury is that I can't do much besides hop around on crutches and keep my foot elevated. I knew this was seriously going to affect my work and life for a while. Running the Warrior Dash next month... nope. Going fishing in Key West with my family... nope. Leading the Exelon Gas integration... nope. This is a clear reminder that when you think you have everything under control... think again.
I sent emails to work to start redefining my role and how I can still work but not in the capacity that I was in. This is probably the toughest part as work is such a big part of my life at the moment. Maybe this is Fate's way of telling me to stop and smell the roses?
Monday morning I started making calls. I tried various times to call numbers at Union Memorial but to no success. The Towson Orthopedics folks were much more responsive and direct with their communication. I was even able to have an appointment that day with Dr. Jeffrey Brodie. After doing some research on him online, he certainly fit the bill. I took some solace in the advice that this is a pretty straightforward surgery and that it is the physical therapy that is just as crucial. My appointment was made for 2:45 and once again, Mom came to the rescue to be my chauffeur. I
I filled out more paperwork and finally met with Dr. Brodie. He did the Thompson Test and again confirmed that my Achilles was ruptured. He said that based on my level of physical activity, he recommended surgery. He said that it is best to wait roughly 7-10 days for the hematoma around the wound to dissipate so my surgery was scheduled 8 days from then on Tuesday, May 8th at 7am.
I needed to get a pre-op physical. With no primary care physician and a tight timeline, we went straight over to a place called Doctor's Express and we were in and out of there in 30 minutes with the blood work and physical completed.
I must say that my outlook on the injury was starting to change now that I had the steps in place to get it fixed. When faced with a discouraging injury such as this, it is key to find things that empower you and for me, that was seeing the steps I needed to take to get healthy again.
I am now playing the waiting game until Tuesday.
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