Surgery for non-rupture injury

Hi all,

I’m a 30yo competitive marathon runner who has had chronic Achilles pain for 3.5 years, but I’ve never experienced a rupture. I’ve been to two different PTs, a running injury specialist, even a chiropractor. I’ve tried every rehab modality you can think of. Pain got really bad the last 3-4 weeks so I saw a foot & ankle specialist yesterday who looked at my bone spur & mobility, took x-rays, and said with my current situation & treatment history, my best long-term bet is surgery. He gave me PT exercises to try but cautioned that I might just be prolonging the inevitable.

I was wondering what y’all’s experiences have been with returning to running and physical activity after surgery. It sounds like a beast of a recovery process and I’m very torn on whether it’s the best option for me. I am very tired of being in pain all the time and the injury is impacting my running performance anyway, but I’m worried about potentially never returning to my current capabilities. I’m fit, do strength & plyo work 2-3 times/week in addition to my running training, etc. Has anyone here successfully gotten their speed & endurance abilities back after surgery? Or even gotten faster?