FREEDOM!!!

Fast Healer

Got to say right off the bat how much I love The Cole Clinic (Dr. Hanssen and Samantha)!

Most people are in their cast for a minimum of 7 weeks, but I convinced my doc to let me switch from the cast straight to the boot (after just 3 or 4 weeks? in a cast) without putting my foot into neutral first WHOOOOOO!  (Last visit, he said I was to be put in another cast and my foot would gradually be moved to the neutral position.  F*ck that!)

Saved me $300 bucks and the hell of having another cast on!  I told him how I couldn't resist and for about 2 weeks now I've been jamming this unsanitary back scratcher (the sharp handle part, where something broke off of it) into my cast, which is why all the padding was gone.  When he was using the cast saw to cut off my cast it grazed against my skin and it hurt so I moved away.  He said I was acting "like a little girl," then when he took it off he saw why...the padding was gone becauseI had pushed it away unintentionally while scratching at it.  So the saw was basically cutting into my skin rather than the padding.

When it came off I thought it looked disgusting with all the red bumps.  I asked if that rash was normal and he said it was because I was "sticking random objects in there" LOL.

Now that it's off though, it feels weird.  All numb and tingling.  I felt my achilles tendon and it's like a hard knot of ropes tangled up.  Really strange...


Check Out This Disgusting Rash:

(::Dry heaves::)


He made a crack about how my dad should tell others that "I'm adopted."  Whatever.  I got him back.  I told him now that he's back in TX he's going to get FAT in 2 weeks, guaranteed!  (He lost 25 lbs in Italy because he did so much walking.)

Oh the best part?  Samantha went to talk to the doc right as he was leaving the room and she got me a deal!  They usually charge $600 for the boot, even though they purchase it themselves for $50!  Well, Samantha got it so that I would only have to pay $50 for the boot!  Amazing!

DA BOOT!

(I wanted to write "DAS BOOT," like the iconic movie, but unfortunately that means "the boat" in Deutsche...sigh...Germany lets humanity down AGAIN.  #GermanFAIL ;-P)

(Do people really pay $600 for this?!)


The doctor's fee was still around $85 or so, but seriously — not bad!

(Then again, all he did was cut off my cast peel off one of the bandages to take a look and then left me to do the dirty work.  Oh yeah and he insulted me and complimented himself on a job well done. LOL must be nice to be an orthopedic surgeon, especially with the mark-up for boots from $50 to $600 haha.  Seriously though, I love these guys.  I can't take being around people who don't have a sense or humor.)

I gave Sam a big bear hug and said she's like my "God mom."  She said she's been "taking care of me for so many weeks" that she might as well be!  The doc overheard and felt left out I guess and said, "What am I? Just your fat skinny doctor?"  I didn't even get what he was saying at first...it's because I told him he lost a lot of weight on his trip.  He said, "In a few more weeks, I'm going to look just like Brad Pitt" while rubbing his sides.  I told him he's going to be fat, but you already heard that part.

So I went home to scratch and then clean up my leg with tons of witch hazel and rubbing alcohol!  Oh God, it felt damnnn gooood.


Before Cleaning-Up (Warning, Not For Those With Sensitive Stomachs):

After A Thorough Wipe-down (Up Close & Personal):

Super Macro setting on the digital camera.  The wound looks SO MUCH better than before (look at the image above and then look below).  All that dead skin has been wiped off, more or less (hence the different skin tone, plus lighting).  That black gunk is congealed, old blood.


All Clean & Bandaged Up!

I cleaned up the wound and put the bandages on myself!  (Why did I pay the doc again?)

Check out that beautiful, meticulous work of mine.


2 Months' Atrophy!

Here you can see how much my right calf has atrophied in just shy of 2 months!  Terrible, just terrible...

Can you see the difference?  Can you spot which leg has atrophied?  It's easy for me.  Here's a clue:  the injured one has a rash on it and has bandages...

T-Nasty Came Bearing Gifts! (Pork Rinds & Cute Minors!)

I decided to be nice and not leave you with a bunch of disgusting crusty, hairy, bloody feet pics 'cuz I know not everyone is into that scheiße...

So for you pedophiles and gluttons out there (just kidding!)... T-nasty was in the neighborhood and came bringing heart-clogging fried pig fat and a talkative 4-year old by the name of Weston!  Mis padres got a kick out of Weston 'cuz he kept asking a lot of questions and was really assertive, which is why I call him "little man."


W Is Easily Amused

I swear that's not a sex toy.  It's for pumping air into balloons or sumpin'.

Fried Pork Fat (Chicarrones):  Snack of Champions!

Believe it or not, I have NEVER tried pork rinds before!  This will be quite a culinary and cultural experience for me, I'm sure.  I'll blog about it afterwards LOL.

For inquiring minds:  the shirt reads, I MOUSTACHE YOU A QUESTION.

Time To Get Ya Learn On, Yo!

I came across this article the other day and thought, wow what a coincidence!

The Achilles tendon is the thickest tendon in the body, a cord that attaches the calf muscles to the heel bone (calcaneus), dictating every interaction with the ground. Over the past few years, we have seen some of the greatest athletes suffer tears in this region, a very painful rupture that generally requires surgery and months of sport absence.

Read the full article at the blog, Sparta Point.

Day 18: Staples Off, Cast On! (My B-day)

This won't be a proper post because I still need to cram for a test, but I wanted to touch base with everyone since it's been so long since my last post.

Today happens to be my birthday...a lot of family drama to be honest, but I'm not going to launder my dirty laundry here.

While today certainly wasn't what I had in mind, I guess I can't complain since I'm still alive. I just got to keep reminding myself that each day is a gift and I know I'm extremely lucky despite it all.

The surgical staples were yanked out today without any lidocaine or any other numbing agent.  It didn't hurt as much as I expected but it definitely wasn't painless. A lot of puss came oozing out as some of that black coagulated blood was disturbed.

Casts are so easy to put on now! They just wet some bandages and wrap it tight and in 2 min., it's dry — presto! A few minutes of work and $300 is spent, yikes!

(Stay tuned.  I'll update this post tomorrow.)

Achilles Tendon Repair Info. (Day 13)

Follow-up Visit

I went to the doc's office this morning for a follow-up and got my bandages and splint taken off for the first time since the surgery!  Don't worry I got new bandages put on again and a hard splint on the bottom to maintain plantar flexion.

(Turns out the doc is going to recycle this for the hard cast...I found that rather distasteful but then he assured me just the cast part in the back, not all the soiled, bloody bandages as well.)

Soiled Dressings

It was pretty gnarly looking.  I had no clue there were friggin' staples in me haha.

My cell phone doesn't have flash and Samantha has an iPhone 4s so she offered to take some photos and send them to me as e-mail attachments but I decided to go with my own photos after all.  They are more close-up and you can see more details like that weird blood pustule and the weird black grooves.

Also, there's an odd growth at the bottom of my foot that was never there before (see that bright white spot on my sole?).  The surgeon said it was probably just a "maceration" (maybe he meant laceration?) but later said it's probably a tumor.  I said I'll cut that out myself and he said he would watch.

Metal Gear in Me

He said I would get a cast put on, on Tuesday since the staples aren't ready to come out yet.  He said if he tried yanking them out today they would "hiss" and "squirt"— nasty!

New Ace Bandage

The doc said, "Don't worry.  I'll make it all pretty again for the ladies.  I could see the stress in your eyes."  What a joker.

I asked him if it would be OK for me to return to classes next week and he said, "I want you to.  We can cure everything but stupidity.  Have you heard that before?"

He also told me that since I waited so long to have surgery, the gap has widened considerably so instead of using 2-4 strands, he needed to use 6.  I asked him about the suturing and he said it's super strong sutures.  He said those 6 sutures are strong enough to support my whole body if they were hanging from them upside down.

Surgical Staples vs. Sutures


I forgot to ask why staples were used to close the wound instead of sutures though my mom said that black stuff ARE the sutures so she said both were used, only since it was such a large wound both sutures and staples were required.

I'm not so sure but this eHow Health article explains it pretty well.  (Note to self:  also ask the doc to check my left Achilles because it's been feeling odd.  I hope it's not tendonitis.)

I read a study that said in stapling led to 4x the number of infections versus traditional suturing but since I obviously have staples in, I'm going to ignore that study and not post the link.  Ignorance is bliss.  Anyways, there are plenty of other studies out there that say they are comparatively the same, the only difference being cosmetic (staples leave more scars, but scars are sexy so who cares?).

A preview of what's going to happen to me next week:

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The Nitty Gritty

I found some more interesting videos to post.

This one is just a general video on how one ruptures their achilles tendon or if it's just tendonitis (check this out, B-money!).

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This other one talks about the Krakow suturing technique for connecting the two ends of the ruptured tendon.  It's a very detailed and informative video.  The best one I've seen so far.  (FYI:  some graphic still images show up after 2 minutes though.)





David Beckham's Ruptured Achilles Tendon (2010)


After seeing that video, I looked it up and apparently soccer star, David Beckham, ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2010; I don't follow soccer/football so I never knew.  Read about it here.

After 2 years, David Beckham I guess is still not all healed though and he never went to the World Cup because of it.  Now he's doing Bikram yoga to heal his Achilles.  Sigh ... I tried to find an article stating that the soccer star was now all healed but even after 2 years, I couldn't find any.  Oh well, I'm a lot younger than him...

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"Plastic Planet"


I know this has nothing to do with my achilles surgery at all, but I also wanted to write a review on a brilliant documentary I started (but didn't finish) last night called "Plastic Planet."  It's fascinating and scary how much a completely synthetic product has come to dominate our planet, from clothing, chemicals, fuel, to even cosmetics and food additives.

They assured everyone that plastic is a completely inert material that will not invade the food system but in fact, it has.  Fish eat tiny bits of plastic that has broken down from sunlight exposure and the churning of the seas.  Cattle and livestock eat petroleum-derived, pesticide-laced grain feed.  Even our processed foods are all packaged in various plastic materials and even preserved and colored with petroleum-derived preservatives, food colorings, and other additives.  We are assured it's all safe, but we now know (after all the BPA, pthalates, parabens, plasticizers, etc. media blitz) that it's endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic.

I believe it's a German documentary so I couldn't find the interview I was after with the scientist, Klaus Rhomberg.  He talked about how a single PVC diaper takes 200 years to breakdown to its component petroleum materials.

Anyways, for those that comprehend German, enjoy! (I didn't see this clip in the documentary; it's probably part of the deleted or extras from the DVD, so I have no clue what he's talking about.  Can someone translate?)

For English-speaking folks, here's a trailer: