Day 1 - The Injury

So yesterday I decided to play basketball. I have been working out 7 days a week for the last two months, dieting and feeling great. I had lost 12 pounds and was hopefully on my way to losing about 10 more. Mind you, I had been playing soccer, racquetball, lifting and doing my 'Insanity' workout for months now so it's not like my body wasn't used to this sort of stuff. There was a young guy playing ball who could jump out of the gym and he was killing our team on the boards. Being the overly competitive person that I am, I said that I would guard him and I'd keep him off the boards. I was easily 4 inches shorter, 12 years older, and he could out jump me by at least 8 inches. But for the next two games I kept him off the boards and we won both games. We just started the next game and the match ups were the same. We were up 6-2 when the shot went up. I blocked my guy out and we both jumped tipping the ball off to the right. I landed and starting to take a step to chase the ball and my man came down on the back of my leg near my ankle. I stumbled, got back up and took a step. I fell to the ground again. I still was closer to the ball and tried to get up and take a step towards the ball and again I fell straight down. Now I finally realized something was wrong. I instantly thought it was my ankle, having sprained my ankles no less than 20 times since high school. I had decent side to side mobility and nothing hurt. I could not put any weight on my toes or the ball of my foot. I could put a little on my heel as long as I didn't try to flex my foot at all. My brother had told me he has seen two people snap their Achilles on the squash court and I've always heard stories but I didn't really feel anything. I knew something was wrong when I felt the back of my left leg and everything felt fine. I reached to feel my right leg and where my Achilles tendon should be, there was nothing, it was soft and there was no taught band to be found. I sat down for a minute and nothing happened. No pain, but no improvement in the range of motion. I knew I had torn my Achilles. I hobbled to my car and drove home left footed. I knew my wife would be mad. We had been talking recently about the fact that I need to stop playing soccer with 20 somethings and I need to quit playing ball with college kids and not play so hard. But like any other active guy who has played sports at a high level, I refused to listen. Although I had stopped playing indoor soccer and was starting to pick up less physically confrontational sports. Although, I can't be mad at anyone, this was a complete freak accident. If I was playing squash, racquetball, running, or biking, I wouldn't have to worry about the contact or someone else stepping on me, I would only have to worry about my own limitations and over reaching/stretching/working. I arrived home, made it up the stairs with a little help, took a quick shower and then we headed to Jewish Hospital ER. I registered and was taken back in about 20 minutes. The ER doc was wonderful. He lives near my office and recognized the name and he calls my brother for OB/Gyn consults all the time. I can't help but think that it helps to let people know you are a doctor. I hate to abuse that privilege, but as my wife said, I earned it. Anyway, I hadn't taken anything yet for pain, and was still surprised that as long as I didn't flex my foot, it really didn't hurt. The ER doc felt it and said, 'yep, it's shredded, needs surgery, I can take an x-ray if you want but you know is gone, do you have an orthopedist'. He gave me the names of the group that does the UL basketball team and the group that does the UL football team. He splinted my ankle and wrapped it, gave me pain meds and told me to call the specialist in the morning for an appointment. I was very happy with my visit. I was seen quickly, treated well, and told exactly what I wanted to and needed to hear. The ER doc even called me an hour after I left to let me know that he talked to docs in both groups and that they would both be glad to see me. I spent the rest of the day at home with my leg propped up. I couldn't stop thinking about how little I'm going to be able to work out and how useless I'm going to be!