Thursday, June 26, 2008

Achilles Update

Well, today at 7 weeks post surgery I met with Dr Hamilton to evaluate how my Achilles is doing. He was quite pleased, saying I was a little ahead of the curve at this point when compared to the other patients he's worked with.

He encouraged me to continue to stretching and icing. I can continue to pedal an exercise bike and use an elliptical trainer. He even said I can walk briskly on a treadmill and, of course, I can continue walking other places. No jogging yet, but maybe in a couple of more months I can start back on flat surfaces. He said at the 6 month mark we would know just how successful the procedure has been.

Needless to say, I'm really pleased. I had been a little worried with the continued soreness, although it is better than before the surgery. He assured me that soreness at this point is normal, and, in fact, mine was healing better than most.

So, I'm planning on keeping on with the prescribed activities and looking forward to some hiking and maybe even jogging by the fall.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has anyone had this treatment done to both feet at the same time? Is this done in a single session, or more than one? How many? any idea of the cost? Anyone have negative experiences with this procedure?
Deep pain...

Rick J said...

Doing both feet at the same time might be possible, but difficult I imagine. I was in a cast and totally non-weight-bearing for two weeks.

The procedure is done in a single session of only about 30 minutes or so... although I was "out," so I can't really testify to that.

I imagine the cost to the patient will vary a lot, mostly depending on the kind of health insurance you have. With our Kaiser plan I paid only a small co-pay.

I still have pain at this point, but it is improving and the doc says I'm on track, so my experience so far has been positive.