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

Grrrrrr......Not Again!

Yep, pretty sure I did it again.  It was all for a good cause, I really NEEDED the exercise.  I had a long break from soccer for various reasons, but mainly because it is a haul to get to where most practices are held and by the time I walk/run there, my feet are absolute toast.  My feet are hanging on by threads these days. So, I got an email that there was a practice on Sunday in the park right near my flat...Yay.  It had rained all morning, so it was nice and muddy. I played better than expected considering my absence and felt great. It was such good soup for my soul.

Well, it was very messy and slippery, so many of us fell and were muddy messes by the end.  We were playing 4 v 4 without a real goalkeeper.  Well, my goalie instincts kicked in a few times and I found myself deflecting balls.  One particular time I actually went down to block a shot and felt an sudden 'ouch' in my left wrist.  I thought, 'that probably wasn't good' and kept playing.  A few hours after I got home and the adrenalin was gone, I realized what I had most likely done.....re-fractured my wrist!  Yeah, I'm fairly certain of it.  If I were a horse and my wrists were my feet, I would surely be euthanized!  The bone I've now broken in both wrists is the same one - the scaphoid, or navicular bone.  Yep, even coincides with a bone in the horse's foot.  Go figure.

So, I found my splint with thumb spica in my closet and put it on. My ortho surgeon from VA actually told me to bring it here..thank goodness.  During lunch, I called my GP here to set up an appointment this week, figuring I'd have to go there and then to an orthopaedic.  Nope.  Just proceed straight to the ER.  Huh?  Seriously?  I have to go sit in an ER to get an xray?  Oh brother, this should be good.  I'm really stacked up with vet school this week, but have a half day Wednesday.  I may go either Tuesday after dinner, knowing I have an 'easy' day on Wed, or I may go Wed afternoon, which is more likely.  I detest this.  I will write all about my first experience with socialized medicine after the fact.  Wish me luck!

In other exciting news, we did our first dissection of the dog today!  Just part of the head. We do a lot of dissections on the dog cadaver.  Today, we took off the skin to reveal the muscles of facial expression. It was quite a delicate little dissection.  The muscles lie just under the skin, so you have to be ever so careful not to cut too deep and to not peel the muscles off with the skin.  Plus, we had a greyhound and they have thin skin anyway.  Tomorrow, we continue with the head and investigate the course and distribution of the superficial nerves of the head.  We will also look at superficial lymph nodes, major superficial blood vessels and some glands.  We have to keep record of all of our work, so we take lots of pictures.  We have to eventually assemble a workbook with either drawings and/or pictures from our labs all labelled.  It will be a lot of work, but a great source for revision and to assist us once we get into surgeries.

Basically, I'm living the dream and loving it!

Time to wrap it up for tonight and prepare my goods for tomorrow.

GO SKINS!!!!  Monday night football tonight and it will be recorded and waiting for me tomorrow!

Over-N-Out