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Osteo-whaaat?
The waiting room was packed before I got there at 4:30. It was a half-hour before I saw Dr. Tauro, my orthopedic surgeon. He wasn t in a good mood. I heard him talking to a woman in the room next to mine, Well, it s too late for THA-A-A-T now! And then there was some muffled discussion about steroid injections. Not that I was listening.
He was also juggling calls from the emergency room and some other doctor who, it seems to me, he thought was an ass. He walked into my exam room. If you re busy, I can come back another day, I said. I was serious. He knew I was.
No, no. It s alright. We ll only be five minutes.
Tough juggling two things at once, eh?
Try three, and trying to not FUCK any of them up. (Emphasis his; I love when doctor s curse.) I ve got one guy in the Emergency Room with a compound tib-fib fracture; I still have a couple of patients in the waiting room; and I have Sports Clinic tonight
And then we got to my problems. He looked at my chart and counted on his fingers. It s been five months post-surgery (ankle reconstruction/plate, seven screws). How do you feel?
Well, I don t want to come across as a weenie but you need to know how I really feel. When I go into dorsi-flexion (bend my ankle) it bites me at the distal end of my tibia (front of the ankle), about a quarter inch down. It s hurt so bad that it s brought me to my knees three times in the last two weeks, I reported.
He examined my ankle and announced, I hope it s not an osteochondritis. Let s get an x-ray. X-RAY, he shouted and then he disappeared.
An osteochondritis is a loose body in the joint space. I don t think that s good.
I got my x-ray and Dr. Tauro returned with the news. It looks like you have a bone spur (osteophyte) at the end of your tibia. I want you to get an MRI. If the spur isn t on the articular surface, I ll go in there with an arthroscope and shave it off.
He never got around to telling me what would happen if the spur is on the articular surface. But I was left with the impression that that would be bad.
No matter what, I need more surgery.
Son of a bitch.
Comments
tangerine said:
Sorry to hear Jim, hang in there and get it FIXED
Posted on Nov 30, 2005 01:39 AM
BWG said:
That both sucks and blows.
As we say in Hong Kong: Son of the bitch!
Posted on Nov 30, 2005 07:29 PM
amy said:
On the plus side, surgery to remove a bone spur is a hell of a lot easier to get over than most others! :)
Posted on Dec 01, 2005 12:42 PM
bonnie said:
Been awhile since I found your link again. Sorry to hear of more surgery.
Posted on Dec 04, 2005 11:15 PM
ruminator said:
Damnit! I'm sorry to hear that but , I hope it means that you're walking without pain again.
Posted on Dec 08, 2005 10:14 AM
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