Thursday, January 27, 2011 – To see the Doctor!

Thursday, January 27, 2011 – To see the Doctor!:

The good news: this morning I get to see Dr. Pederson about my ankle.  The bad news: I have to haul my fat butt up and down these stairs again.  Ugh…

Big John picks us up at 8:30am.  With the help of Gerald “behind” me…I manage to get in the big van without incident.  Dr. Pederson’s office is next to K-Mart.  John’s route takes us right by the hospital, which only took about 10 minutes, if that, to get to.  When I hurt my ankle…it felt like it took forever to get there! 

There are these square strip mall buildings next to K-Mart, and Dr. Pederson’s office is in one of those buildings. There are other doctors too, the Island Board of Education etc. Most of them are kept secure, and in order to get into these offices, you have to hit a door bell and they will let you in.  Interesting.  But I guess because they probably have supplies and medications in there, it’s a necessary evil.  We are the first ones there, and in true doctor’s office fashion, we waited a bit before we got to see the doctor.  But that gave us time to answer additional questions and sign more forms.

Dr. Pederson is not an old doctor.  Probably around 62.  Handsome, distinguished features.  A little white in his hair.  He is a local, with lighter skin than most, and he speaks eloquently.  Once he started speaking, I was immediately mesmerized by the soft tone of his voice, with a slight proper accent.  In fact as he spoke and described the x-rays and injury, I immediately thought of … Victor Newman from Young and the Restless! (played by actor Eric Braeden – fka: Hans Jörg Gudegast)!  OMG…am I staring?  Should I ask for an autograph? Snap out of it Tina…pay attention to what he is saying! HA!

Ok…enough of that!  Dr. Pederson was able to pull up my x-rays directly from the hospital. No wonder they didn’t call me back – but a courtesy call would have been nice. Oh well - gotta love technology in these instances! He looked at my x-rays and showed us how he could tell where the trauma and swelling was.  He also asked if I had done this before because he saw and showed us some scar tissue calcification that had formed – but it apparently was an old injury. He also showed us another little bone chip or calcification at the side of my foot. Don’t know about these pieces … they have never bothered me before, but I have twisted my ankle in the past – just never this bad – so I wonder what kind of scar tissue is going to form now? Yikes!  

Dr. Pederson confirms that it’s not broken, but said he can tell by the bruising that I’ve got some tears. He gave me an ankle brace and said I could do movement and walking as tolerated.  But if I’m walking … I have to use the brace.  Unfortunately I don’t have any closed tennis shoes … only open Crocs or ones that slip on! Guess I’ll have to find a pair. Other than that, keep it elevated, ice it as needed. Then he asked about pain pills and what I was taking.  I told him the ER wanted to give me vicodin, but I don’t tolerate that well, and just used my own Tramadol and Naproxen.  He said that he could write me another script if I needed in case I didn’t have enough.  But I told him I had plenty…and usually only have to take the Tramadol at night now, and take the Naproxen during the day.  What’s the deal?  Everybody wants to give me pills!?  Are you sure you have enough?  Will that be good enough?  Can I give you some more? PLEASE!!!  At least they’re offering I guess!  We go back for follow-up in 3 weeks.  I should be walking by then! (cross your fingers!)

When we came out from seeing the doctor, the waiting room was almost full. Amazing!  They could definitely use another orthopedic doctor on this island.  I’m sure they could use lots of other doctors too! We had to wait to finish the paperwork and pay for the co-pay and brace ($82 – I would have picked a cheaper one!), but eventually we got done and then waited outside for Big John to pick us up.  It was COLD in that office!  We came back to the condo, and I heaved myself up the 3 flights and went immediately to bed for a nap.  I was worn out and hurting from the doctor bending and poking my ankle.  Gawd I’ll be glad when this is all done!