Even never having injured my achilles tendon before, I'd heard of enough instances of the most dreaded of injuries to the Achilles that it's the first thought that ran through my head after I landed in a heap and felt the searing pain. It felt as if one of the other pickup hoops players had kicked me really hard directly in my left achilles tendon (I'd later read online that this is one of the symptoms of that injury that I thought if I never pronounced might not be true).

But the web has made amateur doctors of us all, and as soon as I hopped back to my sofa at home, I did a Google search for "ruptured Achilles tendon symptoms" and went to one of the lists of symptoms.

Check.

Of course, I'm no doctor, I just did a quick stay at the Internet Holiday Inn, but I'm 97% sure that my left Achilles completely ruptured when I landed on somebody's foot tonight. You can actually see and feel the spot where the tendon is no longer connected.

And so for the second time in my life, I'm facing major surgery on my left leg and months of rehab to get back to doing things I enjoy, like basketball, cycling, running, tennis, and other such sports. Right now, I'd even settle for jumping, or even just plain walking.

In general, I think I'm pretty level-headed. But I've got to be honest, I'm feeling more than a little dejected right now.

achilles