Reminder of the fact that I am not young anymore...

[colby]

That was supposed to be "not young anymore..."

It's been about 15 years since I last played softball, but my son is starting to play with a bunch of his friends (early 20's). At dinner last night we were talking and they were having a practice today and needed someone to pitch as none of them has pitched slopitch and our was their first practice, so I agreed to go out.

About 45 minutes into the batting practice all was going well and then one of the guys popped up a shallow fly and I went running... Or at least tried to. Took one step, heard a pop from my right ankle area and dropped like a stone.

Now sitting in emergency with what looks like a ruptured Achilles tendon. Supposed to head out camping next week... Grrrrr...

[Midnightmoon]

Oh no. You are now the 3rd person this year that I know with the exact same injury. One was playing tennis with his son, one carrying a roaster full of food in their kitchen, and now yours.

Are they talking about surgery for you?


P.S. I'll change the title for you.

[colby]

Originally Posted by Midnightmoon

Oh no. You are now the 3rd person this year that I know with the exact same injury. One was playing tennis with his son, one carrying a roaster full of food in their kitchen, and now yours.

Are they talking about surgery for you?


P.S. I'll change the title for you.

Thanks so much.

Not sure yet. Waiting to see someone now. I'm hoping it's rest and physio...

[Midnightmoon]

Originally Posted by colby

Thanks so much.

Not sure yet. Waiting to see someone now. I'm hoping it's rest and physio...

Hoping for the best for you. Please keep us updated on your progress.

[Quantum]

Ugh, too bad! I hope you have a full recovery.

[Murff]

Feel sorry for ya, Colby!

Hope you get a chuckle out of this!

[colby]

Originally Posted by Murff

Feel sorry for ya, Colby!

Hope you get a chuckle out of this!

Lol, thanks.

Looks like I got lucky. Achilles feels intact. Appointment work the Ortho unit next week. Hopefully it doesn't impact first camping trip of year next week...

[Marcm157]

Hope you recover quickly - my daughter tore her Achilles dancing. Required surgery and pretty much ended her dance career...

[sturgissteele]

Praying for a speedy and full recovery!

[JFlightRisk]

We hope you feel better very soon. It's only human to have an accident like that happen as we age. Remember, we're guys...our bodies age faster than our brain!

It reminds me of when I fell from a ladder back in 2016, while cleaning the side of the TT (which I wasn't suppose to be doing). Shattered my arm next to the wrist. We were to go camping 3 days later and did have to cancel that one, but made all the rest. I learned to adapt with my other arm. Some things are easier than others in that respect....

[TWP723]

Wow..hope you heal up soon.

[Finally Able]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

We hope you feel better very soon. It's only human to have an accident like that happen as we age. Remember, we're guys...our bodies age faster than our brain!

It reminds me of when I fell from a ladder back in 2016, while cleaning the side of the TT (which I wasn't suppose to be doing). Shattered my arm next to the wrist. We were to go camping 3 days later and did have to cancel that one, but made all the rest. I learned to adapt with my other arm. Some things are easier than others in that respect....

Many years ago I worked with a young guy -- he was mid-20s, living with his parents, helped out around the house. He changed jobs, but I ran into him one day. He told me a story of being on a ladder to do some painting, and fell. Broke *both* arms. (I cannot imagine how personal business was attended to, and I didn't ask.)

[LuckyDuck]

Just saw your post, Colby. Hope you are on the mend and able to keep your camping dates!

[norty1]

Sure hope you are on the mend!

[RPR]

I realized I was not as young as I once was when I started thinking of everyone under 50 as a young person!

[colby]

Thanks everyone. Almost finished the week of camping, but it's been an adventure...

My appointment with the Ortho unit was scheduled (by the Ortho unit) for July 13th (tomorrow). My leg had been feeling good and I (yes, I with no medical degree except 58 years of listening to my body, wrapping injuries up and applying tiger balm through my years of weekend warrior athletics) decided to forgo the splint and just use compression bandages. I was driving, doing things, getting the trailer prepped, etc.

The first trip of the year is always complex... The campsite is close (2 hours), so the pattern is, take the Jayco up on the Wednesday, come back down Thursday morning and pick up the pop-up which goes on the next site, and then others have a tent site for the weekend depending on numbers (our trailer sleeps 2 [emoji6]). Then we reverse it the following week, the kids all head back Sunday and we collapse the pop-up and then drive it back either Monday or Tuesday and then the Jayco comes home Wednesday. The plan was going to work, I had an ultrasound appointment on the Wednesday and then a buddy of mine was going to drive it up and help me get it set up and we would come back, load the pop-up and my DW was going to drive that up. It was going to work.

I still had it in my head it was going to work... I didn't get much sleep on the Tuesday night with a stabbing pain in the middle of my calf (which furthered my belief that it was a calf muscle strain and I could power through it). On the Wednesday, I drove myself to the hospital for the ultrasound and slowly walked to the unit (no crutches or splint, just compression bandages), had the exam, walked out, drove home and then rode shotgun and got the Jayco up, levelled and plugged in and drove back.

It was going to work...

Wednesday night was 1000x worse than the previous night. The pain was bad, Tylenol wasn't making a dent and I had driven deep, deep into the realms of Dr. Google because they had published my ultrasound results the night before and they started out with this from the reviewing doctor:

############''''''''' ATTENTION '''''''''############
############ SIGNIFICANT OR UNEXPECTED ############
############,,,,, RADIOLOGIC FINDING ,,,,############

And it got worse from there, a complete tear of both the Achilles and Plantaris tendons.

It might not work....

About 5:30 after being up almost all night, I woke up my DW and told her she had to take me to the hospital. After resplinting my ankle and picking a bag, off we went. 4 hours later, I finally make it to an examination room and then wait for a doctor to see me. About an hour later as I was somehow catching a nap, my phone starts ringing and it's the Ortho unit at the hospital. Turns out they saw the ultrasound results and decided they needed to see me sooner. They had called home first and my DW told them I was already at the hospital. They called me because the ER somehow didn't know where I was, lol. I told the Ortho unit where I was, and they said they knew exactly where I was and less than a minute after getting off the call with them, someone came to have a look. After talking me down from the edge and convincing me I wasn't going to lose my leg, they re-wrapped my in the splint and I awaited the Ortho surgeon to come see me. Oh and I finally got something for the pain...

The Ortho surgeon made it to me and I was scolded soundly for what I had done in the past week... Then we came up with a plan to go the non-surgical path. The start of that is that I need to where a boot with wedge for 4 weeks... Straight... No driving... When all that was done, I asked about camping. She said it was ok as long as I could rest and follow the recovery protocol. I could do that (and have for the most part).

And so it's been a good week. The kids all had a great time and I got some peaceful downtime on the site. I have to keep the foot elevated and I am not supposed to be weight-bearing on it. I'll see what they say tomorrow at my follow-up, I think it's doing ok, but I had screwed it up last week...

The bigger issue is the big trip that we had plan Ed for the end of the month. Close to 5000km and 3 weeks to Newfoundland. My DW and I talked because she would have to do all of the driving. Plus a week of that trip was at Gros Morne National Park which is pretty remote. Considering everything, we decided to cancel the trip. We are pretty bummed about that, it would have been the first big trip with the trailer and one of the reasons we upgraded the TV last year.

However, we are thinking of doing some additional trips In August if we can find room somewhere or even into September if my DW retires before the school year starts again...

Once again, the support from this community is fantastic. Sorry for the long read, nothing but time on my hands right now, lol.

And a shot of the pop-up from my vantage point across the sites...

[LuckyDuck]

Wow, that’s quite a (painful) saga! Glad you at least know what you are dealing with and have a treatment plan. I suspect most of us guys treat our bodies kind of like our Jaycos — something isn’t right, we figure we can fix it ourselves and don’t need to take it in for “service.” 😁 Most of the time that works, but not always. Glad you are still able to camp and even get the DW to do the driving! Take care and here’s to a quick recovery.

[Dave A]

Have you noticed our brains don't seem to age as fast as the rest of us? My wife has explained that to me once in a while when I get a great idea that I'm probably not capable of and will suffer for. Get healed up fast!

[Captnjimk]

Colby,
Glad that you know what your dealing with. Good luck with your recovery. I’m currently in physical therapy for a dislocated shoulder. I’m in week two(12 weeks ordered). I’m not doing much BUT my point is that above age 60, everything takes longer to heal( my ortho said it would take 2-3 months)((and my PT said to expect 90,95,100% recovery). I can imagine your recovery is at least that long. So, we want to get to the West coast this year, so, we’re planning some “sea trial”)trips, so I’m over IT. Florida is too hot this time of year��

[m16303]

Originally Posted by colby

That was supposed to be "not young anymore..."

It's been about 15 years since I last played softball, but my son is starting to play with a bunch of his friends (early 20's). At dinner last night we were talking and they were having a practice today and needed someone to pitch as none of them has pitched slopitch and our was their first practice, so I agreed to go out.

About 45 minutes into the batting practice all was going well and then one of the guys popped up a shallow fly and I went running... Or at least tried to. Took one step, heard a pop from my right ankle area and dropped like a stone.

Now sitting in emergency with what looks like a ruptured Achilles tendon. Supposed to head out camping next week... Grrrrr...

I had not played baseball in over 10 years. My first at bat, grounded a slow roller to third base. 3/4 of the way to first my hamstring let go. Guess it’s going to be another 10 years before I get out there. LOL!