Craig’s Musings

“What happened to you?”

Since my return to the office this week, it’s pretty obvious that something did, indeed, happen to me.

No, I didn’t work on “Red Dog” (i.e. Windows Azure)—for those of you were attended last year’s PDC and saw the bright red shoes worn proudly by those on the main stage during keynotes.

What you see in the picture above, unfortunately, is a cast—my second cast in a series of casts, too. Red is the color chosen by my son, who I empowered to be my “awkward restraint device” designer. Currently the leading color for my next cast is maroon—although camouflage is a close second.

While playing a league basketball game on Sunday 2/8 I ruptured my Achilles tendon, as per the ER doctor’s opinion. This diagnosis was confirmed when I saw an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday 2/10. I had a successful surgery to repair my tendon on Wednesday 2/11.

By the way, if you have a ruptured Achilles tendon, you don’t want the kind I apparently have. My rupture involves my calf muscle, too (i.e. more where the tendon and muscle connect than just the tendon alone). So, my recovery time will be extended.

Yesterday I had my stitches removed—I look like Frankenstein where my incision exists—and received my second cast. Boy, did it feel good not to have anything touching my skin for that brief period of time!

Basically I’ll be in a series of casts for the next several weeks, being put into a new cast roughly every week. The goal of this process is to stretch the repaired tendon so that my foot is perpendicular to my lower leg (i.e. bent at a 90 degree angle). So, with each new cast, my foot will be positioned with more tension/stretch toward that goal. Yesterday I began at 50 degrees.

Achieving 90 degrees will allow me to proceed into my next phase of recovery: physical therapy. It will also mean the end of casts and the start of a wearing a walking boot instead.

At the outside, it will be about six months until I fully recover (i.e. I can run and play basketball again).

Fun, eh?

But I’m thankful for a very loving and supportive wife and family. My employer, EMC, and my work colleagues are great, too. I’m fortunate to have a job that doesn’t require me to be on my feet or to perform heavy physical labor—especially during these tough economic times.

Besides, this will all pass before you know it. I certainly won’t take my ability to walk unassisted let alone run anytime soon…

P.S. I wasn’t fouled while playing basketball either, although I thought that someone took a bat to my leg right above my heel at the time. I understand through teammates that I was actually alone while making a defensive rebound. Regardless of playing the incident over and over in my mind, I can’t recall if the “pop” I heard (internally) was before or after landing—just recall landing like a bag of rocks on the hardwood floor.

Craig
http://craigrandall.net/
Twitter: @craigsmusings