Surgery...

As a few of you know, I partially tore my Achilles tendon over three years ago. I have endured so much pain and immobility these past few years that I can not remember a time when I walked easily. This immobility has also caused me to gain at least 60 pounds which makes the condition even worse.

About three weeks ago, I miss stepped as I was leaving one of my favorite restaurants in Tarpon Springs: Mykonos. It appears that the tear is now close to %95 and I can simply not function. Dr Hoover will detach the ligament, repair it, smooth the bone spurs that helped to cause the tear and then re-attach the tendon. I will be in the first cast for six weeks, which means that I will be heading to Moscow while still in a cast. It will be another six weeks after that (three months) before I get to dive.

I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I try to adjust to this even greater immobility.

I will pray for you Scuba Pete!

Best wishes as you go into surgery. I am a testament that the body is very good at healing... it just takes some time.

Best wishes, I hope it goes well.

Yow! :cover:

Best wishes, Pete. Heal quickly.

You're gunna feel so great when yer all fixed and healed!
Take good care of yourself and stay positive!

Wow buddy, that sounds painful! But look on the positive side! It'll give you an entirely new perspective on life! (that is, if you haven't experienced something like this before, anyway)

Hope you get better very very soon so you can go back to visiting your friends in the big blue! :goldfish:

Heres too a quick and full recovery.

Allthough I will admit the pain of just hearing of a torn Achilles almost made me go past here with a cringe on my face.

This is a very well known operation and all should be well.
You will need quite a lot of physiotherapy afterwards to get full extension back.
Good luck.

Friend Scuba,
Sorry cannot do anything about the pain you are IN; BUT do try this and see if it helps.
Constantly and conciously watch the pain. Watch how it spreads throughout your body from its centre and see the change in colours etc. Be totally absorbed by accepting the situation you are in totally. Slowly and surely you may find some differences in your feeling of the pain.
When you are better, you may respond.
love & rgds

Sorry to hear this, Pete. Prayers for a quick recovery and patience with the cast and not being able to dive...I KNOW that will be difficult for you. I am glad they can repair this, though. Let me know...mine is starting the same process a little at a time...just a small tear right now.

Bummer, Scuba.
Wish you a fast and full recovery.

My prayers are with you Pete...

Thanks for the well wishes... I am trying to get ready for my impending convalescence.

Scuba Pete said:

As a few of you know, I partially tore my Achilles tendon over three years ago. I have endured so much pain and immobility these past few years that I can not remember a time when I walked easily. This immobility has also caused me to gain at least 60 pounds which makes the condition even worse.

About three weeks ago, I miss stepped as I was leaving one of my favorite restaurants in Tarpon Springs: Mykonos. It appears that the tear is now close to %95 and I can simply not function. Dr Hoover will detach the ligament, repair it, smooth the bone spurs that helped to cause the tear and then re-attach the tendon. I will be in the first cast for six weeks, which means that I will be heading to Moscow while still in a cast. It will be another six weeks after that (three months) before I get to dive.

I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I try to adjust to this even greater immobility.

Click to expand...

You are in my prayers buddy..

wish you a very soon recovery

And you will be walking normally soon
Good luck

Good luck Pete; I hope all goes better than you imagine it will.:hug:

So... any books I should be reading? I have Russian for Dummies coming as well as "The Art of the Start".

well, they say things have to get worse before they can get better. you have my prayers that you can get through the worse, and i hope you get to enjoy greater mobility after your recovery time has passed :hug:

The good news is that the tears were in the middle of the tendon. Two bone spurs, one broken, were causing almost all of the damage. It appears that they were able to work through and then behind the tendon without having to actually detach it... at least that's what my daughter is telling me. The one bone spur had broken and the sharp edge was tearing through the tendon longitudinally for the most part and only slightly horizontally. They had to pick out several bone fragments and remove the spurs which were causing more damage/tearing and quite a bit of swelling. This really explains why I had good days and bad days with this. After that, they debrided the tendon and sewed it back together. Doctor Hoover (who is an avid diver) started me on an anti-fungal medicine a few days ago and started the antibiotics today. My temp has been steady at 97.5F all day, which is my norm.

I will see Doctor Hoover in few days and get the "REAL" story, or at least first hand, but this sounds pretty awesome. I am at the end of this pain pill and I don't think I will probably take another to get through the night and it might be the last. The doctor fitted me with a water cooled cast. It pumps ice water from a small cooler by my bed through a tube wrapped around the site which empties back into the cooler. There are two quick disconnects so I can travel to the bathroom and such. How cool is that?

I feel that I have been pretty lucid since surgery and in fact I am WIDE awake right now, though I am going to TRY to go to sleep. Please feel free to edit any posts that don't sound like me. No, that doesn't mean if they sound logical and full of wisdom all of a sudden! Currently, After spending the evening in the recliner watching "Happily Ever After" with my daughter and wife, I am back in bed with my kitten all snuggled up beside me.

What a day, I have had. I got Cold Fusion ordered (part of our next iteration for ScubaBoard), HowardE (one of my Advisors on ScubaBoard, and in charge of operations for the corporation) booked a flight for me to Moscow on the 12th of February (cheap too!) and the surgery was far less extensive than we thought it would be. BTW, Howard even booked a return ticket for me too on the 17th of February! 2008 has certainly started out much nicer than 2007. What nice day after birthday presents!