The latest chapter in my cansur-vival book has been severe joint and body aches, to the point of barely being able to move or walk. Recently while walking through a department store, I thought to myself if I saw someone walking like I was, first I would probably be down at the Villages, but I would tell them how much I loved their performance in "Night of the Living Dead".
I contacted my Neurologist at Shand's and the Nurse explained how they could refer me to the Orthopedic dept. but they would need to see me first, and then wait for a consult with the Orthopedic dept so it could be months before actually getting to the heart of the problem. I decided to see my local practitioner, he ran blood work, he started to believe it was some form of neuropathy or even the possible on-set of MS because of the quickness and severity it had affected me. In the meantime, he sent me to a local Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Farr. So after a barrage of X-Rays, MRI's and blood-work....did I mention I don't have health-insurance...so John and my Christmas' gift to each other was an MRI of my right knee.
Yesterday was my follow-up visit to Dr. Farr and he went over everything with me, the extremely good news was that the ligaments and muscles he thought were damaged or torn were just fine, there was no bone on bone, or fractures, but I did have "considerable" fluid all around my joint, so without missing a beat he said he was going to drain the fluid (as if he was asking me if I wanted a lollipop).
Now I understand his job is to get me feeling better, not coddle or hold my hand, but some emotion would be nice. It reminded me of my Neurosurgeon from the past surgery to fix my forehead "Well, I don't see any incursion to the interior of the skull, so how 'bout a spinal tap?"
The procedure for this process is quite horrific, as soon as he said he was going to drain my knee, in my head,I started to hear "Ave Santani" the evil theme music from the original Omen movie. He leaves the room, leaving me to my thoughts and about 5 minutes later a nurse wheels in a small tray with gause wipes and bandages, alcohol wipes a small spray can and a single syringe in the center of the tray, like all the other items are surrounding the syringe in some un-holy ritualistic ceremony. Then I notice the needle attached to that syringe. It was longer, wider and bigger than my screw drivers at home. Then she just turns and leaves, leaving the tray behind. So it's me the tray, and the screw driver attached to the syringe (I swear I say the Black and Decker logo embossed on the needle) all alone in the exam room. I stare fixated on that needle, knowing that was going into my knee. The doctor finally comes in after what seems an eternity and tells me to lie back. He sprays this cold stuff on my knee to numb it. I will spare everyone all the details, he did however hit a nerve with the needle and I came off the table with an explisitive symphony of curse words. He apologized and continued.
In the end he drained roughly 18ccs of fluid from my knee. Sufficed to say I was completely and totally exhausted, not just from the actual procedure but from the anticipation of every possible horrid scenario running through my mind while I was alone with the syringe, to him hitting my nerve.
Today, I am able to stand-up, walk and function virtually pain and medicine free. It has been a long time since I have felt this good and now I know what people meant by that saying; "Well at least you have your health..." All things considered I am grateful to Dr. Farr for making me feel better, but he never did offer me a lollipop.
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