The Verdict is in....kind of

Enquiring minds want to know about the outcome of my wrist.  Wellllll, as it seems to go with scaphoid bones, it's kind of inconclusive at the moment.

Following is a recount of my first experience dealing with socialized medicine.  I took a cab to the hospital with a 'minor injuries' department within their Emergency Room because I was told it may be quicker than going to the hospital nearest me which was all emergencies. I go to the reception and mind  you, I have never been sent a hospitalization card from NHS (National Health Service), a confirmation that I'm registered...nothing.  My GP had confirmed I was registered, but it still felt weird to check into a hospital without a card and identification of some sort. Nope, just date of birth, name and address given verbally and boom...I was in.  The funny part about being in the minor injuries check-in, was there was a sign that basically said all emergencies that came in could be triaged ahead of me....hhhhmmmm.  I thought the reason for having a minor injury department was....oh, never mind.

I brought a book to study and of course this meant I never had time to open it, which was good.  I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was handled.  So, I am first seen by a nurse.  Her name badge says 'physiotherapist'.  I'm fine with this at this point because I'm sure I'm going to give her my history and then tell her what happened and she's going to send me to x-ray.  And, hopefully, I will be seen by a doctor after that to discuss the results. After some poking and prodding, she agreed that I had the clinical signs of a scaphoid fracture and sent me back to the waiting room to wait for the x-ray tech.  X-ray tech came and got me shortly thereafter and seemed to position my wrist properly for getting good films of the scaphoid.  If the tech doesn't know what they are doing, you won't get a good enough look at the bone, because it can be overshadowed by others.

Here's where it gets a bit iffy for me.  The tech tells me I can go back to the waiting room.  I ask her if an orthopaedic surgeon is going to look at it, or a radiologist, or......??  She says they send it up (digitally) to the radiologist.  Ok fine.

I have barely sat down, when my nurse comes and gets me.  She has the xrays pulled up on her monitor and tells me everything looks good.  Now.....unless the radiologist was sitting at his computer the moment those xrays were sent to him and was available to view them immediately, they were not seen by a doctor.  This, I have a problem with.  The nurse continued to point out on the xray how the bone looked good and there did not appear to be a fracture. But, she said I do have the clinical signs, so we need to treat it as such.  She told me that since I had just injured it on Sunday (this was Wed), there could have been some re-absorption making it hard to see a fracture.  Her 'treatment' was for me to keep my splint on for another 10 days (she told me my splint was better than what she could offer me, so I should use my own) and to come back.  If I still had symptoms, it was likely there was a fracture since any soft tissue injury should be better by then.  So, I go back next Friday. As I was leaving, I asked if I could get a copy of my x-rays to take with me (to send to my surgeon in VA) and she said 'no, they are all on the computer these days and we can't just copy them'.  Ok, well that's strange because just last May, I had x-rays taken and they were put on a CD for me to take to my doctor.  But, I didn't argue and moved on.

I was not comfortable with the level of personnel I saw based on my past history and the fact that I need sound and proper medical care for this issue. I know that the worst case scenario is that it's fractured and I am in a splint, so nothing is different there.  I am just wondering if any of my other wrist bones were looked at?  I mean, I realize I know my body and made a convincing argument, but maybe they should have done just some regular pictures of my wrist to look at the whole thing?  I dunno, I guess I left not feeling confident in the care I received, as nice and professional as everyone was.  Heck, it was hard for my surgeon to see the fracture in May and he's been doing wrists and hands for like 30 some years.  Only when it had healed and he could compare the two, was he confident he had read the first x-ray correctly.

So, yesterday I called my ortho's office in VA and spoke with a staff member.  I asked her if he could look at the x-rays (if they will give me a copy) and she said absolutely.  She told me to get them on a CD, he will review and consult with me on the phone. I called the hospital today and asked someone how I could get my films.  She said all departments were closed and to call medical records back on Monday.  I feel pretty good about my odds of getting a copy now.

There you have it.  The whole story.  So, I'm still in the splint which is what I would have expected anyways and thankfully it's my left hand.  Also thankfully, I'm not still lifting weights or training in the fighting arts or I'd be extremely frustrated at this point.  See, there is some good that comes out of not working out :)

That's it for now.  I'll post about my cattle handling experience this weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Over-N-Out