Injury report: day 1
Aug. 31st, 2005 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sauergeekI have torn, possibly completely, my left Achilles tendon. I did it playing volleyball this evening, in a pick-up game at work. I didn't know initially what was wrong.
I managed the tear by trying to dig a low ball, without going to my knees. I had had to run to get to the ball; knees were not an option. Instead, i had one foot well behind me, and as I went for the ball I felt something like someone tapped me from behind on my Achilles tendon. The tap was no harder than someone bumping into your foot with their shoe while walking. When I tried to get up, it hurt somewhat, and I couldn't walk very well.
I had no idea that I had damaged the tendon, so I tried walking it off, including some stretching. At the time I suspected I had a severe cramp. After several minutes of trying to walk it off, with no appreciable improvement, I hobbled toward the door. On the way, I accidentally stepped on a tree root. My foot went heel-flat-toe as I went over -- and that hurt. Something also felt as if it was tearing. I suspect that tree root made things distinctly worse, on top of all the misguided stretching. It was then I knew something was much more wrong than a cramp.
I went back inside and talked with various people, both in person and online. Meanwhile, my leg got a bit more painful as I sat at my desk. I finally decided to go to a local emergency room rather than try driving the ~30 miles home*. After a remarkably short ER delay -- I was in and out in the space of two hours, which I thought was excellent given that I was almost certainly triaged lower-third -- I got a diagnosis of a torn/severed Achilles tendon. The doctor told me to make an appointment with an orthopedist in the morning**.
I now have two double-strength ibuprofen pills, and a prescription for Vicodin. I'll take one of the pills tonight, and fill the prescription tomorrow. Right now I have remarkably little pain, though I have been warned that it may well hurt a lot more in the morning.
* My boss rocks, in that he drove me to the ER, waited the entire time I was there, and then drove me to my grandboss's house. My grandboss rocks, because he drove me home. I am currently prohibited from driving a stick shift, so my car is likely going to stay where it is now -- parked at work -- until I can arrange to retrieve it, or until I can drive it again.
** The medical instructions they gave me say that if a severed tendon is not repaired within five days, it will shrink. I don't know if this means it then becomes irreparable, or if it is merely much harder to fix. Needless to say, I have no desire to find out which is true.
I managed the tear by trying to dig a low ball, without going to my knees. I had had to run to get to the ball; knees were not an option. Instead, i had one foot well behind me, and as I went for the ball I felt something like someone tapped me from behind on my Achilles tendon. The tap was no harder than someone bumping into your foot with their shoe while walking. When I tried to get up, it hurt somewhat, and I couldn't walk very well.
I had no idea that I had damaged the tendon, so I tried walking it off, including some stretching. At the time I suspected I had a severe cramp. After several minutes of trying to walk it off, with no appreciable improvement, I hobbled toward the door. On the way, I accidentally stepped on a tree root. My foot went heel-flat-toe as I went over -- and that hurt. Something also felt as if it was tearing. I suspect that tree root made things distinctly worse, on top of all the misguided stretching. It was then I knew something was much more wrong than a cramp.
I went back inside and talked with various people, both in person and online. Meanwhile, my leg got a bit more painful as I sat at my desk. I finally decided to go to a local emergency room rather than try driving the ~30 miles home*. After a remarkably short ER delay -- I was in and out in the space of two hours, which I thought was excellent given that I was almost certainly triaged lower-third -- I got a diagnosis of a torn/severed Achilles tendon. The doctor told me to make an appointment with an orthopedist in the morning**.
I now have two double-strength ibuprofen pills, and a prescription for Vicodin. I'll take one of the pills tonight, and fill the prescription tomorrow. Right now I have remarkably little pain, though I have been warned that it may well hurt a lot more in the morning.
* My boss rocks, in that he drove me to the ER, waited the entire time I was there, and then drove me to my grandboss's house. My grandboss rocks, because he drove me home. I am currently prohibited from driving a stick shift, so my car is likely going to stay where it is now -- parked at work -- until I can arrange to retrieve it, or until I can drive it again.
** The medical instructions they gave me say that if a severed tendon is not repaired within five days, it will shrink. I don't know if this means it then becomes irreparable, or if it is merely much harder to fix. Needless to say, I have no desire to find out which is true.
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Date: 2005-08-31 10:05 pm (UTC)Don't wait to get it fixed, definitely. Shrinkage is never good.
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Date: 2005-09-01 05:06 am (UTC)