These past couple of weeks have been a little tough fitness-wise. I developed a tendon tear, which essentially prevented me from leaving home for a week, even making it difficult for me to move around our place because of the stairs.
How it started
My tendon tear came out of nowhere. I just did my usual weekly 5km walking exercise without feeling any issues. The next day, I started feeling some pain at the back of my ankle. I was still able to walk and climb the stairs, so I thought it was not a big deal.
The next day, it got worse, and I could barely walk. Going up the stairs to go to our kitchen/living room was a big struggle, so I decided to just stay on the lower floor where the bedrooms and the washrooms are. I was forever very grateful to my wife, who was always looking after me and was even bringing me food from upstairs; otherwise, I would have had to crawl my way up to the kitchen just to eat.
Seeing the doctor
On the third day, it was still as bad as the second day, so I decided to go to a nearby orthopedic clinic. It was less than a kilometer away, but I really couldn’t walk, so we decided to get an Uber taxi. I got an x-ray of my foot, which confirmed the tendon tear.
The doctor gave me two weeks to recover, a prescription for pain killers, and a week’s supply of cold compresses. It’s always cheaper to get those via a prescription than just buying them directly from the pharmacy. I also borrowed crutches to minimize the pressure on my left foot and to at least allow me to be mobile. It was my first time to use crutches, so they also had to teach me how to use them.
I tried using the crutches to go to the nearby pharmacy but gave up just after a few meters. It was frustrating. Luckily, the pharmacy allows online reservations where I can send them a picture of the prescription, and my wife could just get the medicine for me. I was too frustrated to even attempt to use the crutches to walk home, so we just, again, took the taxi.
Recovering at home
The next few days, I was stuck at home, though my feet started to recover and get better. I was lucky I was scheduled to work from home that week, so no impact to work. After a few days, I was able to walk again. When I was confident it was almost fully healed, I even walked all the way back to the orthopedic clinic to return the crutches. I then walked back home, just happy I could walk again.
Simple pleasures.
Enrico in Tokyo 
Thanks for popping in my blog. I took a peek at yours and saw this. After six weeks in crutches, I got the go signal from my doctor that I can do without them. It was Christmas Day. I was able to walk from the kitchen to the dining table with dishes in my hands and I thought, What a joy to be able to do this very simple task that was impossible the day before. Walking yes unassisted, jumping… simple actions that I will never ever take for granted ever again.
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Good to know that you don’t need the crutches anymore. I can only imagine how difficult it was for you for six weeks. I only had to deal with it for a few days, and it was already very frustrating. I’ve been trying to do more exercises recently to keep my legs stronger, hopefully to help prevent injuries.
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