Ha, yeah I have been in that thread. It was a while ago, I don't think i have my polyp picture anymore.
Nurse took the stitches out on Wednesday. It was bleeding a little bit when she did. During PT it started bleeding again from the lower incision. PT examined it, cleaned it and said she took the stitches out too early.
I ruptured my entire patella. Took a full 2 months before they started letting me do PT on it. Leg had to stay straight the entire time.
Even worse, I’m in Arkansas. I broke my ankle on one of the two ice rinks we have in the state edit: I snapped a pic after I snapped my ankle and while we were waiting on an ambulance. Luckily I couldn’t feel anything, so it was just kinda cool to look at. *Don’t open unless you want to see a broken ankle* Spoiler
How did you break it? First guess is going into the boards, second guess is caught a really bad edge.
First guess is correct! I showed up late to a pickup game, so didn't get to warm up, and in my first shift I went hard for a loose puck in the corner, slipped, put my feet up, and went feet-first into the boards. I could tell something was up when came to a stop after bouncing off the boards. I couldn't feel my right ankle or move it, but there wasn't any pain. Then I looked at it and noticed it pointing the wrong direction. First time I've broken a bone, and not a bad way to do it.
Rant Spoiler Apparently I have a very complex left leg. From the hip down, I have issues in my knee, calf, and foot. I’ve chased after diagnoses for 20 years but usually give up after getting the can kicked down the road because my problems aren’t textbook. My two main issues are my calf and foot. I report classic exertional compartment syndrome symptoms in my calf. My foot has a partially torn plantar fascia, bone spurs, arthritis, and tingling/numbness. Individually, these problems are mild. They all tie together and make it impossible to do anything for more than a few minutes at a time. I’m only able to walk for 5 minutes before having to stop to let the pain drain from my knee down. I finally decided to see it through the end in 2023. I’ve been to 6 different doctors and 10 appointments so far this year. I got a surgeon who really listened, put the pieces together, and formulated a good plan. The plan includes a pretty invasive surgery called a fasciotomy to start. This will address the chronic exertional compartment syndrome and then we will move on to the foot in 2024. I had the test for CECS two weeks ago. It’s a terrible test consisting of shoving huge needles in the leg to test for pressure. One of the sticks hit a nerve and I’ve had some bad/weird pain in my leg ever since. I messaged the surgeon about it and he wanted to talk in person. I just got finished with that appointment. My surgery is tentatively scheduled for 3/9. After speaking with the surgeon, I now have another MRI, an EMG, an ultrasound, a second opinion with his mentor, and a follow up with the dr that did the compartment test. That’s 5 more appointments in the next 3 weeks. I understand the need to be as thorough as possible. He wants to remove as many variables as possible before going the surgical route. I don’t take any of this lightly and appreciate that approach. It’s just so frustrating having all this shit wrong and it being so difficult to find a fix. I’m not going to get into the resource cost for all this. Every specialist appt is at least a $50 copay, 2 hours of my time, etc. I’m very grateful to be able to afford it all, but it still makes me rage. It shouldn’t be an extreme luxury to track down medical issues and that’s what it feels like. tldr: Addressing non life threatening medical issues is a giant pain in the ass.
Is this bad? This seems bad. CONCLUSION: 1. Severe arthritic changes and osteitis at the AC joint. There may be subjacent impingement. 2. Labral degeneration and tearing from 8 to 12 o'clock. 3. No MRI evidence of a rotator cuff tear. There is mild tendinopathy of the infraspinatus.
Have had three ACL repairs on left knee with a bone graft between #2 and #3. Knees are the fucking worst.
Yep, one plate and one screw. That was in mid-December 2021 and I was cleared to play sports again by April 2022. Ankle still feels a bit weird every now and then, like tonight after hockey it was pretty sore, but my movement really isn't hindered anymore like it initially was back in April when I jumped back into softball and kickball.
I’ve had a plate and 6 screws in my left ankle for about 20 years. Every now and again it will act up and get sore but I’m not in constant pain or anything. They were going to remove it but I never got around to it so I just left it in.
Man, I’m sorry to hear that. At my last visit my doc said unless anything was causing pain, they’d just keep the hardware in me, so I guess it’s here to stay.
I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow to fix my leg. The appt has been scheduled for a month. All pre op meetings/payments taken care of. Arrangements were made and plans changed to accommodate my recovery for the next few weeks. I got a call yesterday that the doctor wanted another test done and a second opinion on some stuff. Surgery cancelled 36 hours before it was supposed to happen. Somebody dropped the ball and I’m furious.
Ugh. That's the worst. But, I will tell you this is a blessing in disguise. More tests and a last minute second opinion might imply/indicate that your surgeon is maybe in over his/her head. At the very least, they aren't 100% confident that they can help with what their plan was. Either way, that second opinion is vital and I'd strongly consider getting it. It sucks that they didn't put this in motion months ago, that really wasn't respectful of you and your time. If you don't mind sharing, what's the leg issue?
Chronic exertional compartment syndrome in my left calf. The testing came back positive a month ago which is when the surgery was set up. The doc wanted additional tests done just to get all the information he could prior to surgery since it’s a pretty invasive procedure. His office was supposed to set it all up. It’s not my job to track down what he needs to feel comfortable moving forward. The icing on the cake was his PA explaining to me that delay was a potential outcome and I should have planned for that (even though the surgery is still scheduled and on the books). She’s the one that dropped the ball because it’s her job to do all the admin work so the surgeon can do surgery. Amazingly enough, all the missed appointments were scheduled immediately after someone realized the fuck up. Sweet fucking system we have here.
Yeah, they certainly shouldve been more proactive in making sure the additional testing was scheduled and carried out. The issue now, from a 3rd party view, seems to be that there may be a fracture of the doctor/patient relationship now. You're understandably upset about this inconvenience and so you have to ask yourself if it is just best to find another surgeon/office you can trust to do this procedure. And, the PA's comments seem insensitive and tone deaf at best. Docs and PAs need to recognize that a surgery is more than the 60 min procedure for the patient. That is frustrating. Compartment release for exertional compartment syndrome is an unpredictable procedure and often is not a homerun. Residual symptoms and complications are common problems. Trust in your medical team is paramount with procedures like that. If you don't have complete trust in this team, consider finding another provider. Also, I may have misread your comments above, so if I did I apologize, but I would push back a bit on the "It's not my job to track down what he needs to feel comfortable moving forward" comment. Yes, the doc and his team absolutely dropped the ball with testing and follow up, but this is your surgery and your leg. It is always your job to be your best advocate. It is a shitty system. Some docs are seeing 100 patients a week and some ordered tests or wanted tests can and will fall through the cracks. Is that great? No, but medical offices are human and these things happen. I always recommend to people that if a test or study is ordered and you don't hear anything about it being set up after a few days or a week, call and check in. Don't allow your situation to be the one that falls through the cracks. Now, if they never discussed any new tests until this most recent interaction, yeah- that sucks and there was nothing you couldve done.
This is a good reply and I appreciate it. There is a lot of truth to what you wrote. But I’m going to push back on your push back. While I am my best advocate, I am not the expert and feel like I need to trust the experts to do what is right for me. That’s what I’m paying for. I can’t interpret/understand the need for a second opinion or an ultrasound. You’re obviously in the medical field, but you people don’t take the time or have the patience for all that stuff. As the patient, I get a one liner or a hurried/fidgety sit down about what needs to be done and why. Outside of my GP, any questioning is met with pushback in my experience in medicine. It’s not a business of clear and thorough communication. With that being said, I think the surgeon is fine, but his team is a reflection of him and I have concerns now. I’m debating what to do next re: seeing someone else.
I hear what you're saying totally. I think we are basically on the same page. I would argue that some (hopefully most) of us do take the time and try our best to have patience for patients (sorry, couldnt resist). If you get one liners and a hurried sit down and no answers to your questions prior to a surgery and even worse- pushback on questions you have, then yeah, it might be time to find yourself a new doctor. You deserve the time you need to have questions answered and issues resolved prior to surgery. I wouldn't settle for half answers and push back when you ask questions. Especially for a diagnosis and treatment as nebulous as CECS. Best of luck. Depending on geographic location, I may be able to recommend some options for you.
I’m in Atlanta and do all my medicining with Emory. It was a really good teaching hospital system 20 years ago but has turned into the Walmart of medicine in the southeast. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.
RIGHT SHOULDER SCOPE WITH SUBACROMIAL DECOMPRESSION / LABRAL DEBRIDEMENT / AND OPEN DISTAL CLAVICLE RESECTION April 4th. 3rd shoulder surgery, both of the previous resections were on the Left. First go round with the labram. Yippee.
Going in for an angiogram on my left leg tomorrow. Doctor wants to see exactly where and how bad the popliteal artery is impinged. He thinks I likely need a bypass but wants to start as minimally invasive as possible. What started as non standard/complex compartment syndrome diagnosis (and a last minute cancelled surgery) has turned into a popliteal entrapment diagnosis that the vascular surgeon is very confident can be fixed close to 100%. It just depends on how bad the blockage is. The first ortho surgeon went down the CECS path and scheduled surgery. Cancelled it last minute due to wanting more testing. The second opinion surgeon thought my circulation felt low and wouldn’t touch me until I got cleared by vascular. The vascular doc did an ultrasound and treadmill test that showed I had significant circulation issues post exercise. That led to the popliteal entrapment diagnosis and the plan to fix it. tldr: Tomorrow is the first step to my leg feeling better. Doctors aren’t perfect.
3 weeks out, half my hand is still numb and it feels like I'm constantly hitting my funny bone. Nerve blocks suck.
Angiogram confirmed that a good sized portion of my popliteal artery is dead and I need a bypass. Being awake for a procedure like that is interesting (and not that enjoyable).
No idea. My leg has hurt for like 20 years and I finally got an accurate diagnosis. I’m excited to get it fixed but a little scared of the procedure.
Yeah, but I wasn’t ready for the rush from my right groin all the way down to my left ankle. It felt exactly like warm pee running down my leg.
Scheduled a heart ablation for September a couple weeks ago. Little stressed about it but they tell me it’s no biggie.