7th Jan 2011 - The day of the Surgery...I thought.

At the clinic on the 4th I was asked to fast from 3am every day from now onwards, as we wait for a bed to become free.  I then received a call on both the Wednesday and Thursday at 9am to say sorry, no available beds, but please fast from 3am tomorrow.  No big deal - I was expecting this...

Friday morning came, and I received a call - we may have a bed coming free, so please don't eat.  You will receive a telephone call at lunchtime.  Lunchtime came and went.

2.30pm - I received a call saying 'please make your way to ward 16 - you are booked in for 4pm - eek!

4pm came and went, as did 5, 6 and 7pm.  Getting a bit peckish now.

7.15pm - sorry my Cashman, surgery is postponed until tomorrow.  Due to the Ice and snow there had been a couple of more urgent cases come in.  But you cannot go home, and we will try operate tomorrow morning.  Wolfed down a rancid sandwich, got laptop out and watched Get him to the Greek (v.funny) followed by Zombieland (removed the headphones, and the sound effects carried on!!  It's noisy on ward 16...and its worth watching by the way).

Tea, toast, teeth, sleep.

4th Jan 2011 - 3 days after full rupture of achilles tendon.

Hairy Dave kindly took me to the hospital to see the specialist at the orthopaedic outpatients clinic.  After a 20 minute wait, I met with the surgeon who confirmed the rupture, and asked which repair route I wanted to go down - conservative or surgery.

I opted for surgery as many of my friends are ex-sportsmen, and one had been through the same injury 10 years earlier.  I spent 3 days solid looking at the evidence for and against surgery as a route to full fitness, and the support for surgery was overwhelming.  The Surgeon was less optimistic - he said the recovery time is roughly the same, and apart from a 5% difference in chance of re-rupture, there's not much in it.

New pot, and we will ring you about when to come in for surgery.  Could be a few days, as it's Icy outside and this is when many older patients take priority after falling and doing some real damage (Rightly so)...

Just a case of wait and see...

Day 1 - 1st Jan 2011.

Just like most years in the Cashman household, we woke up bright and early, with no hangover after failing to stay up long enough to see in the New Year.

Text from coops a bit later - '2 courts booked for 4pm - whose up for a hack?'

No hangover, and no plans to stuff my face with food and wine - why not?  So, Coops, Hairy Dave, Andy and myself headed off for a bit of light squash, which is usually followed by a couple of pints.

I'm reasonably fit, and 3 days earlier had been out mountain-biking on the hills around Honley Woods and Meltham.  When it's cold I make a point of having a good stretch, and today was no exception.  I even wore my skiing thermal base-layers, and we had the heating on full.  Coops took the first and second game, I took the third, and we were half way through game 4.  As it was just a friendly I was only really in probably 3rd gear, out of a total of 5, as was my opponent.  Coops played a ball to the front left, and I chased it from the opposite end of the court.

I recall falling forwards, but also remember looking backwards to see which flowerpot had opened the court door mid-game without knocking, and hit me with it!  The door was obviously still shut.  Had I hit myself with the racket? - nope, still in my left hand.  The pain was incredible, but reasonably short lived.  I tried to stand - not a chance.  I was limped off court, and hopped into Dave's car and went off to casualty.  We sat there for about 5 hours.  The Thompson's test was the point at which I knew I would be out of action for a very long time.  kneeling on a chair she flexed both calf's - the right moved, the left just ignored any signal coming from the calf:  Example test:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFleDmyeEMw

Within 20 mins I was in a pot upto the knee, foot pointing down, and on my way home with an appointment to see the specialist 3 days later.