A Simple Walk

On Star Wars Day (May the 4th… lol) of 2023, my wife Donna had the first of 3 surgeries on her heels. Donna has a genetic defect called, “Haglund’s Deformity”, which is sorta like bone spurs that were exposed to gamma rays and became Incredible Hulk level angry.

While sometimes physical therapy can alleviate the pain caused by the issue, Donna had gone decades without a diagnosis, and the orthopedic surgeon who finally did recognize why she was in constant pain said hers was the worst case he’d ever seen. And both of her heel bones being identically that severe was an indication it was not a growth, but rather a lifelong deformity. Unfortunately, when the spur is so pronounced, it causes severe damage to the achilles tendon along with the chronic, often unbearable pain. But I digress. After years of pain and frustration, a specialist not only diagnosed her, but happened to be incredibly skilled at the procedure for repairing the deformity. And the procedure is a doozy.

Basically, the surgeon detaches the achilles tendon from the base of the heel, and then saws off the back of the heel bone where the spur is located. Then the damaged tendon is cleaned and abraded in order to encourage healing, and reattached to the reformed heel bone using an elaborate procedure that basically screws the tendon into the base of the heel bone again. As is easy to imagine, this is an extremely invasive and extensive procedure with requires 6 months to a year of rehabilitation. It starts with 2-3 months of absolutely zero weight bearing.

And she needed both heels done, back to back.

The first surgery went as planned, and it took a little over 6 months for the heel to heal (hehehe) enough that it could bear the weight of walking. Then the second surgery could (and did) happen, starting the entire rehabilitation process over. Unfortunately, while the second surgery seemed to go identically to the first, during the physical therapy portion of the second heel recovery, her tendon proved to be irrevocably damaged from the lifetime of abuse. Rather than healing, the achilles in her second heel ruptured. Like, literally ruptured through the back of her heel. (I’m not kidding, it was the most blood I’ve ever seen in my life, it was like a poorly produced horror film)

And so when we thought her almost year long debacle was coming to an end, she had to have an emergency 3rd surgery. The surgeon harvested a tendon from her big toe, and used it to rebuilt the achilles on her left heel. This surgery was also a success, but the trauma the heel had been through meant an even longer and slower recovery process. And if the toe-tendon didn’t “take” — it likely would mean a permanent disability that wouldn’t be repairable.

That was February. Today, Donna had her final followup appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, and got a clean bill of health. Both heels have healed. The achilles tendon on her first heel seems to be in good shape, and the toe-tendon did in fact grow in place properly to recreate a working achilles tendon on the ruptured side. Donna is done with physical therapy, and after a full day of work, her heels don’t hurt. Truthfully, her recovery felt like it might never be complete. But thanks to an incredible surgeon, and well over a year of recovery and intense, painful physical therapy — the nightmare appears to be over. There is still some strengthening to do, and flexibility will require constant attention. But she made it. We made it.

And today, for the first time in years, Donna and I went for a walk along the waterfront. We held hands, and we talked, and it was the best.