Rupture Rapture

Rapture Day 41 – I like big guts and I cannot lie

stonebuddy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:25:48 +0000

Did I mention I’m in the real estate development business? Guess what – I am so I have a fair amount of free time since absolutley nothing is happening. If its happening, its super slow-mo like one of those dreams you might have where you can’t run no matter what you try.

Alright, as if you care, I’ve been moaning a little here about my condition going to hell in a hand basket. From a purely food and beverage perspective, I’ve been on my ‘A’ game with me getting more than my fair share of nourishment in the form of burgers, fries, cheese, bread and the occasional 4-5 beers almost every night. Maybe not that many every night, but if you average out total consumption over the week, i’m in the zone. So what, right? Well I’ve gained at least 5-10 pounds with my belly starting to hang over my belt (first time this has ever happened). I checked this morning and I’m pushing 172.5 lbs and going nowhere but up and out. Plus my overall strength is declining and worst of all, I think I’m starting to get early stage man boobs! I love pullups but I’m down to 4 from being able to knock out 8-10 with good frequency. So I restarted my home pull up routine last night while watching monday night football (no beer) and kicked in a ab routine. My goal is to be back at 165 and 10 pullups by my next appointment on 10/6/09.

Oh yeah, leg is feeling good but still very tight feeling. I’m trying work on some general flexibility out of the boot at least 2-3 times a day while minimizing/avoiding any direct pulling on the AT.

Rapture Day 40 – Das Boot

stonebuddy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:32:35 +0000

High Karate

Finally got out on the boat this weekend! Took my son and a friend out and about but ended up at a rope swing. They had a blast and I had a great time swimming, listening to some music and laughing at their antics. Getting the boat off of the jet dock by myself (at least by my injured self) was a bit of a hassle that left me covered in sweat but I made it.

I’m walking around a ton and have been at least 2 weeks without cruthes or the scooter. In 2 days in will have been 6 weeks since the surgery, but whose counting! I still curse the boot on a regular basis but I am starting to find that I’m having multiple periods (usually brief) where I forget that I’m injured – its a peaceful feeling. I rode my bike to the gym this morning and it felt good. I was able to go a good bit faster than usual and expect that I can turn it up a notch by this time next week. I’d like to think I can hit the big bridge here, but I can’t stand on the pedals and i’m worried that I may put too much prolonged stress on my bad leg. Might need some professional advice on that one……

Rapture Day 38 – Pick your nose

stonebuddy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:05:49 +0000

I love the expression – you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family. So true.

Rapture Day 37- Make a new plan Stan

stonebuddy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:28:55 +0000

I’m trying to figure out how to make the best out of my “6 more weeks in the boot” order from the doctor earlier this week. This damn boot is like a giant bong hit that is sucking the life out of me and killing what little motivation I have already. My blog title says “without the guilt” so I’m trying to stay positive while indulging in a little self pity here – I’ve earned it okay so back off! On a funny note to that, I do think the length of this recovery goes beyond the sympathetic range of most normal people. I’m sick of people asking me and those that are around me, are sick of me explaining. I just want to move on.

Okay now that I have that off my chest I’m tasking myself on the health front of identifying something that I’m going to improve over the next 6 weeks. I’m thinking something like an abdomonal and pullup routine I can do easily from home. I also thought about combining it with less drinking but talk about recipe for failure! I want to go to the gym more but not sure I can make myself go because of other schedule issues. We’ll see – I’m writing it here to guilt myself into doing it. Of course I can always edit it back out later….

Rapture Day 36 – Doc Visit “see you in 6 weeks…”

stonebuddy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:54:32 +0000

Made it in to the doctor this morning and got a clean bill of health and a recommendation to spend about 6 more weeks in the boot. That would put me at 11 weeks – almost 3 months – in some sort of cast/boot. I’ve been fighting the reality of the situation which is that this type of injury requires an abundance of upfront time to guarantee a solid repair of the tendon before getting back in the game. I must say that this really sucks in general for all the reasons you can imagine, but for me in particular, it’s that I’m starting to feel good and feel like I could start some rehab. However, the professionals say wait.

In other news, I’m still trying to get some sort of workout plan going in general and its starting to take shape. What’s not taking shape is my belly! Need to find some way to get some cardio versus strength.

Rapture Day 35 – Puff Daddy

stonebuddy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:01:23 +0000

I made it out in the boat the other night for some fishing and got sucked into an all night vortex that spit me out back at home around 1:45am. A large time but no fish – although we saw about 12 redfish tailing in the marsh grass, just no bites. Speaking of no bites, if you are going to go out all night drinking, eat some food or else. I ended up with the “else” and a very swollen foot the next day. My foot/leg did not hurt but my head was about to explode. Fortunately, we had plans to go out with some friends so I basically did a repeat but went heavy on food and water while keeping my foot up.

Here’s an interesting thought for the non-achilles injured group. I went to a fantasy football draft party yesterday and of the 12 dudes (all over 40), 4 –including me- had popped their achilles playing sports (2 basketball, 2 tennis). Good news that all were still active so hope for me on the recovery.

Rapture Day 30 – 30 Days in the hole!

stonebuddy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:34:40 +0000

Yesterday was my one month marker since the surgery. All and all I have to say I’m happy with my recovery so far in terms of what I’ve been able to do and compared with some ‘new friends’ i’ve met recently who are in some stage of recovery themselves or are recent recoverers. The biggest complaint for me so far is just being injured in general combined with a semi-ambiguous recovery period. I can’t stand not being able to participate actively in stuff my kids or friends are doing. Granted I have pushed the envelope, but I keep hearing these stories of reinjuring the achilles and i’m more skiddish now than I was 2 weeks ago when I was pretty much willing to do anything. What that really means is that I’m even more committed to wearing the boot all the time (except sleeping). I was taking it off a lot for a bunch of reasons, but now realize that without it, its my achilles heel as the saying goes. The other big fear is that after putting a month in, to start over or have a setback would be mentally devestating so I think the old brain is sending me a message…

This may sound contradictory to what I just wrote, but I did return yesterday to the gym to begin working out again and I’ve ‘mastered’ riding my bike. While I feel a little exposed on the bike, it feels great to be under my own power and I’m getting some leg exercise which I hope will prevent/offset to much muscle atrophy – we’ll see….

In other news, I’m stoked to hit the boat tonight with some friends for some fishing and swimming. I can’t believe that I have not been swimming in 30 days. Hot as hell so it should be good. I’ve inherited an old boot from a friend and I’m going to designate it as my ‘flipper’. Hopefully it will not pull me to the bottom! Thats a great headline – giant dumb ass with broken achilles and 10 lb boot drowned today after jumping in the water….

Oh…. I almost forgot to mention that I will be returning my scooter at the end of the week! I will miss my dear friend and will think of him/it often!

Rapture Day 23 – Gonna Walk and Don’t Look Back

stonebuddy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:36:22 +0000

Hopefully you are familiar with this Mick Jagger/Peter Tosh duet Walk and Don’t look Back that was a huge hit – with me anyway. If you watch this video (click link above) , just listen to song and ignore the video as it must have been made during Micks “having a hard time not looking really gay” period. I bring this up because while I’m excited as hell to be walking, If I could look back (as in behind me) i’m sure I would see people laughing at my absurd clunking along motion.

Rapture Day “10-21″ – I can walk!

stonebuddy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:33:49 +0000

My new waterproof boot...

I failed to mention earlier that I had a big vacation plannedto Montana with our family and two other families prior to the accident. It was also part of the reason I tried to hustle to get the surgery done so that I would be in better shape, or at least the healing would have begun in advance of my departure. Without going into the details of what turned out to be a fantastic trip despite the injury, I have to say my health and attitude improved over the course of the trip. While I’d love to tell about my almost fight with a downs syndrome man, or dancing with a 75 year old woman on her birthday, or my idiotic attempt at rock climbing, or my 3/4 mile hike uphill followed by 636 steps down through a cavern, or the piles of fish I caught, or the horses we rode… I’ll refrain and just state that on Day 18 I was able to put some prolonged non painful weight on my leg, and by Day 21, I was walking pretty well in general. I still use the crutches or scooter for long distance, but I can walk around the house and office. Its huge! Stay tuned to see if I’m healing quickly or if I’m just a giant dork who has messed up his leg even more by pushing it too fast….

Rapture Day 9 – Redemption!

stonebuddy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:53:50 +0000

Everybody loves the guy in the cast. Its a conversation starter and people often make themselves feel better by talking to a gimp. It shows compassion but comes with little chance of commitment. “let me know if we can help….” is a common remark, while mentally praying that I don’t ask for any. Its really a very christian act. You get to show compassion for your fellow man, plus you get to throw in some prayers (“dear god please don’t let him call me” and if you want to double up on the prayer, throw in “and I hope I don’t get this injury”). Brother follow me and you are quickly on the road to redemption!