Nope, not suffering from THAT degree of forgetfulness just yet ^^ … but it’s November 2025 and I am 55 years old (168cm / 5’6″ @ 66kg / 145lbs)! I’m also a father of 5 amazing, lovely kids (ages 30-15), divorced (almost!), and am employed as a mechatronic product engineer team leader at a large concern with headquarters in Germany. Also an important aspect of my life: a year and a half after separating from my wife and the mother of my 5 kids, I met and fell in love with a wonderful German lady who has been a real ‘anchor’ through turbulent times such as right now, ready to help through thick and thin.
Currently, an injured Achilles tendon (a full rupture on the 19th October 2025 during sport) is absolutely life-dominating, over-shadowing from time to time really everything else at the moment (week 4 post rupture) although it’s beginning to slowly ‘shrink’ a tiny bit w.r.t. the domination factor; after a very stressful first 3-4 days really not knowing what to do and who to believe, I decided (95% sure) to head down the non-operative (or ‘conservative’) path of recovery – a month ago I would never have thought it possible for the body to heal such a significant injury without operative intervention but, in many cases, with the right support, it really is!
Anyway, for ‘future me’ (as a kind of ‘hard-copy memory’) as well as others (in a similar situation), I decided to a) write a journal, b) collect some external resources in the form of links to white papers, YouTube videos, Reddit threads and similar, as well as c) put together some practical and helpful information – this last point concerns day-to-day life tips, such as showering with a boot / cast, walking on crutches, etc; also, you will find a list of helpful gear and pretty much anything else I could think of (or might be suggested!) that might help others through a similarly tough time will be featured!
So, whilst currently life-dominating, I refuse to see the rupture as life-defining: if you look at the small handful of other non-Achilles pages here which I’ve written / constructed over the last 6 years, you’ll see a small part of the story of some of the most important parts of my pre-injury life: hiking and biking for starters; on the Day 0 page you’ll get a short intro into another passion of mine, the one that led me to be here right now: bouldering (climbing up to 4m or so without ropes). Generally, I’m an active person who is (even now, despite the injury) keen to be independent, do things on foot wherever possible / reasonable and enjoy nature, amongst many other things (I also love books, films, series, 3D printing, tech in general, art, music, drumming, cool cars, the list is long). I will return to these with passion and – I simply maintain to insist on aiming for – 100% functionality.
The Achilles recovery journal published here on this website is a – sometimes very verbose, but I make no apology for that ^^- personal account of my own journey. It should not be interpreted, in any way, as medical advice or suggestions regarding decisions you need to make or anything else of this sort – yes, that’s a full disclaimer … I’m happy if any of this helps in any way, but I shall not be held accountable for any negative outcomes due to anything / information available on this site … please realise that you are a different person from me, use some common sense and educate yourself.
Likewise, exclusion from this journal should not be considered as a sign of ‘irrelevance’ … the journal is certainly too long for some as it is anyway, so consider any missing stuff a blessing, disguised or otherwise ^^; in any case, other aspects of my life, more personal and / or things or images involving personal identities of most other people, should rightfully remain partially or completely excluded from these web pages.
Nevertheless, I’m convinced that some people may be helped in one way or another, be it simply that it’s sometimes reassuring to read about others who are going through / already went through the same or similar trauma as one is experiencing oneself and came out the other side … in some cases seemingly even stronger than before the trauma! That is one of my biggest hopes at the moment as I type these pages … at any rate, I hope you, the reader, shall find something worth reading amongst these many words!
P.S. Feel free to drop me an email (sols_achilles_stuff@icloud.com); on Reddit: u/Unique-Seagull-2370
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Achilles Rupture Recovery 