The Reveal of the Achilles Surgery

We saw the surgeon yesterday.  He's a fairly terse guy, friendly but laconic.  We learned that Jim's rupture, although complete, was not as bad as many he has seen in the past.  This is probably good.
The splint was removed.  The cast lady had to work on it some to get it off.  The hard part was made out of plaster, which is why it was so heavy.

This is the incision.  At this point the stitches were still in.  Note the bruising and the swelling in the heel.

Here is the incision with the stitches out.  It doesn't look all that different.

The cast is being built now.  First there is a soft stocking applied.  Jim's foot is resting on a support.

Then mass quantities of fluffy material are wrapped around the leg.

The first layer of fiber glass has been applied here.  It comes in a roll, and is dunked in water.  Then it's wrapped around the leg.  The top and bottom of the stocking have been rolled back over the first fiber glass layer.

This is the second layer of fiber glass.  We went for the high visibility color.  It almost glows in the dark.

When they were wrapping, Jim was asked to push his knee forward a little.  The back of his calf is really tight.  He's going to have a fair amount of work to do with that in the future.  At the moment his toes are dropped about 10 degrees to keep any tension off the repaired tendon.
We have three weeks in the cast, non weight bearing.  Currently the cast is fairly uncomfortable.  Jim hasn't been able to find a good place to put his leg yet.  It could be a long three weeks.  After that there will be a boot, non weight bearing.  Slowly, he'll be able to put weight on it.  It's a process.