So, I went to Mayo last week about my Achilles tendon, or my whole leg. I am a big guy, and I have Popeye legs, you need a lot of muscle to be light on your feet at my weight. About 4 months ago, I was in a hurry down the hall of the house, I could hear Mrs Dr ThinkingEngineer yelling at horses while trying to unload from the trailer and figured she needed help. Our 19 yr old Siamese dodged right between my legs and kicked her with the left leg right into the back of the right one. There was a instant of pain, and I went one legged. Fortunately, my crutches from my knee replacement were just around the corner, so I was able to get on crutches and get situated (the horse issue did not require my help after all).

The leg swelled up, but the pain was manageable, and with my severe lack of trust of the Drs in the area after my knee, I decided to wait and see how things went. I had already been fighting a problem with a calcified tendon and some inflamation, so I kept on with my stretching and exercising and things eventually got better’ish. After a couple of months though, I noticed that my calf muscle was disappearing, and decided after another week or so (now 3 months or so out from the injury) to call Mayo. To my surprise they had an appointment a week away so I took it. At the same time, however, Mrs Dr ThinkingEngineer had a horse fall with her, and went right off over the top, with her helmet grabbing enough mane to flip her onto her back before landing. The upshot of that little contretemps was a fractured L1 and L2 vertebrae, putting her almost entirely on bed rest for a couple of weeks, and with a 3 month timeframe for recovery.  With some assistance for her, I decided not to miss the Mayo appointment, and headed off to Rochester. I had some fear that I had done something major, and wanted to get it looked at.

Damn, I hate being right. The initial X-Ray and examination showed a tear in the tendon, rendering it mostly ineffective. Subsequent MRI showed more of the same thing. So, now scheduled for surgery and planning on staying in Rochester afterwards for care. Unfortunately, this means that I will be doing it without Mrs Dr ThinkingEngineer, as she will still be in recovery of her broken back.

This is gonna suck on toast.