Achilles surgery

Goofing off getting his surgery wrap taken off

Around Thanksgiving, Brad started going to the gym.  Soon he was playing basketball.  He had lost 20 pounds.  By January 18th, he had blown out his Achilles.  He said he was running down the court and turned around to see if anyone was going to pass to him.  He took one step forward and it blew.  He said it felt like he took a baseball bat to the back of the ankle.  He fell down and whipped his head around to see who hit him or threw the ball at him and there was no one there.  He said there was a loud snap.  He knew what he had done, because he felt the area where the Achilles should be, and it was mush.  It was a Sunday afternoon when I got a call from him at the gym saying he "kinda" hurt himself.  "I'm okay," he said, "but Pete's at the hospital, and I'm going to have him check me out."  The kids and I waited and waited, and when I heard the garage door open I said to myself, "please be in a boot, please be in a boot," and then I heard the crutches.  So he had surgery to repair his Achilles and was down for quite a while.  He went from crutches to a cast to a knee scooter to a boot. It did not make winter at our house more pleasant.  I think it was 8 weeks before he could bare weight, and then he had all kinds of physical therapy.  Needless to say, it was a pain in the rear for him and me.  But it could have been so much worse if it had been his back or knee.  The doctor said full recovery is about a year, and maybe, no more basketball. ;)