Back in Hospital

27th Mar 2014
I'm sitting here in St James hospital waiting all day to be admitted with an operation tomorrow. I'm a littl'e bored and should get used to it as after the op tomorrow I have to spend two weeks with my leg elevated. This is my second operation on my ankle in a little over two years  and this time I've decided to write a blog on it. There's really A few reasons for this blog
1. I broke my ankle 2 years but I never really recorded anything about the rehabilitation and recovery and now wish I had as it'd help me now.
2. When I discovered the damage that I had done I scoured the internet for what was ahead of me and I found blogs like this really helpful.
3. I was planning to write a blog about my ironman training so this can replace that now.
4. It gives me something to focus on when I can't do anything else and hopefully allows me track progress.
5. Hopefully it's useful to others in a similar situation.

My aim is to stay posting until I'm fully back running at least and maybe even until I'm back racing.

So how did I get here.
Towards the end of last year I decided to do an ironman and after getting the requisite permissions I entered Ironman Austria at the end of June this year. I drew up a training plan and started to concentrate on swim technique and long cycles through dec and Jan. I tried to get out as much cycling as possible during Jan on some very cold, wet and windy days. We had a family holiday for 4 weeks to Australia in Feb ( my wife is Aussie so we go every couple of years)  and once my local bike shop sorted me out with a bike box ( Murt, it's all your fault ;-) ) I was set to keep up my training through the holiday.

Holiday and training went really well until there was a pile up on a group ride I went on. Everything happened so quickly I'm not 100% certain what happened. I didn't come off but I got hit from behind on the Achilles and there was a deep cut across the back of my ankle. I had no strenght in that leg and couldn't push up at all.

So I think I was hit from behind by a pedal or a fork. I went to the local hospital and got it cleaned up and got a tetanus shot. The doc said it was just a soft tissue injury and would be sore for a few days. My brother in law is a physio and he had a look a few days later and thought it was a low grade tear and gave me some Range of motion (ROM) exercise to work on and warned me against getting back on the bike too soon and warned of the dangers of a full rupture ( a warning I unfortunately only part heeded)

So back to Ireland 10 days after the crash and I go to see my local physio - it was fairly swollen after the flight so he gave me more ROM and some light strengthening.  A week later when I go back to see him he's concerned about my lack of strength and lack of progress nearly three weeks after the crash. So we talk about an MRI and agree it's probably a good idea. I book in for an MRI the following Monday ( I try to get an appointment earlier including calling the clinic each morning offering to come in at short notice if there's a cancellation but to no avail).

Last Sunday I'm out in the garden surveying the damage to the poly tunnel that happened in the big storm when we were away. I decide to try to put the door frames back on and when I'm doing this I stumble and fall with my bad leg into a hole - my heal goes down and my toes are forced up and I feel a stab in the back of my leg - I hope on my good leg for 10 secs cursing. Didn't feel too bad at the time but that was it. I've done some reasonably dangerous things over the last 20 odd years so it's pretty disappointing to be laid low by the adrenalin lacking past time of gardening.

Next morning it's pretty sore so I hobble off to Dublin and get the MRI done - I go on to work and my foot gets stiffer and stiffer as the day goes by. By the end of the day I realise I'm in trouble. My doctor calls me that night after he sees the MRI report and tells me the news I was expecting. So off I go to James A&E the next morning. I see the ortho nurse and she gives me a boot and makes an appointment with the ankle orthopod on Thursday - same guy who took out the screws after my bad break two years ago. A good ankle specialist.

So this morning I go to see the orthopod and he has a quick look at the MRI and tells me it's a full rupture and recommends surgery then a boot (which is good news as I was expecting a cast for a few weeks, a boot is much better as you're much more mobile.). I ask about triathlons and he says I can forgot about this season but I can expect to be on a static bike in 3 months, on a road bike in 4 or 5 and back running by 6 and a half. So they are my immediate targets as well as keeping my weight under control ( I put on nearly 8 kgs when I broke my ankle and it wasn't easy lose - although a crazy period at work was partially to blame for that).

So that's it for now - I'm sitting in the ward and to be frank it's a bit of a mad house. Alan beside me keeps shouting at the nurses for more blankets and Mary from next door wanders in on a zimmerframe every now and again shouting where's everyone gone and Damo across the way very kindly offers everyone a chicken ball after his (presumably nightly) foray out to the Chippers.
So I'm going to try and get some sleep and hopefully they call me early tomorrow for surgery.