Achilles Rupture Surgery 2 months after injury

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Hi I'm 33M, Malaysian Chinese born in Australia, Melbourne, 94kgs.

Been playing badminton for 15 years and late Nov it ruptured playing 30 mins into a session. This is probably was my third session of the year due after 6 months lockdown and before that I was only doing the occasional walk around the block as that was the only thing you could do.

It was extremely painful and swollen for a few days that's when I felt like, ok its not just a standard sprain. Could barely walk and most of the time I was just lying in bed or sitting down.

Saw my local Dr, she advised to get scans. Went to get Xrays and ultrasound, the girl doing it said go see the DR immediately. That scared me.

Then booked another appointment the next day, the same female doctor wasn't available and saw male doctor (i took what I could get). He said I can't believe you are walking as limped over to him.

My heart sank as he told me it was pretty much fully ruptured as a thread was holding on for its dear life. That's early Dec and he said to go see an Ortho Surgeon and gave me a referral.

Earliest booking was the next day but a 2.5 hour drive. I could barely use my right foot pushing up and down so I said when is the next booking, he said the Dr is going on holidays and is back Jan 5th at a closer place which was 20 mins away. So I booked that.

I'm from Melbourne and it was December so I already had planned to go to Sydney for Xmas coz my parents are there. So went there instead and planned to go back on the 28th but then lockdown happened again in Sydney specifically. Not knowing when I could go back and I didn't want to pay 3k for Quarantine as I needed it for surgery, I voted to stay in Sydney. So had to do the whole process again. GP > Surgeon > Book Surgery. I have private medical insurance so I thought all good but a day before the surgery the hospital said I had to pay in full. Checked my private medical insurance, they said my cover was not high enough but could be covered if the injury was proven an accident and was not a pre medical condition. I was f*****g p****d at this point. I had to get my first GP in Melbourne to fill out a Medical Accident form, my surgeon to fill second part. After I submitted that a week later they come back and say please fill in another form proving it is not a pre condition from a referring GP and Surgeon in Sydney. After 2 weeks delay getting that sorted, I now have had the the surgery 2 months after Injury.

My questions:

Do I have a good chance at recovery after 2 months delaying the surgery (Once I found out it was Achilles I did some frantic research on Google and said I had best prospects if I did surgery ASAP. Now I'm regretting f*****g the whole medical insurance process and paying for it outright knowing I can walk properly again)?

My Surgeon also made a huge cut from my upper calf all the way to my heel (probably 15 inches) and took 3 hours to repair - is this normal?

It has been nearly 2 weeks since my surgery and every time i use crutches or straighten my leg it feels like my calf is about to cramp. Is this normal or a sign that I have f****d my life of ever playing sports again? The whole process was so stressful especially during Covid and everything.

Just need someone's input who has had any experience on this - It would greatly appreciated.

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  • Posted

    ok 2 weeks in. I can barely push my ankle downwards from its already downward position. im worried.

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