Five Stars

Saw the ortho and got everything on a silver platter. I'm a little verklempt. That doesn't happen often.

I swear, I'm in the golden years of medical care over here. A sweet spot of too old to outright dismiss, too old to blame it all on weight (for the most part), too old to say it's anxiety (also for the most part), but too young to give up on.

In my younger decades, I'd say about 5% of my appointments involved anyone actually listening to me and doing something about it. Sometimes even less than that.

Now? It's like 50-60%. I still get bullshit, but I also have times when the clouds part and the angels sing and medicine actually lifts a finger.

Aside from looking like their Meemaw, I also think I communicate more effectively and I'm (sometimes) better about just getting my ass into another doctor. More doctors, more appointments really seems to be key (the system does its best to make it unaffordable to get action as a core value, you have to pay extra in terms of time and money to get anywhere--I have fought that reality a lot because it shouldn't be true, but anymore it's the second+ opinion that provides care, not the first). 

Plus, some stuff is fairly normal now. For instance, Morton's Neuroma is pretty common. My personal health context with it is a bit weird, but the neuroma itself is very routine. My issues fit into the medical system better these days. It's easier when they can recognize what your body is doing.

Ortho was one of those times where it all came together. Steroid injection, right there in the office. Better anti-inflammatories called into the pharmacy. MRI ordered. Bam bam bam! Knocking it out of the park in one swing.

Every patient should be so lucky.

I will note that the ortho exam made my hip fail though. That's a new data point and it's not right. It fits with the way PT is aggravating though. Something's just not right. This isn't something I can leg lift my way out of anymore.

And the grapefruit is doing...something. It's...gaining mass??? Feeling more solid??? Something. I'm leery of letting that fester too long given how dynamic it's being. 

It's not in a great diagnostic area though. As far as I can tell, it's located in an anatomical desert, a place with no major disease history that medicine has ever recorded. Meaning, there's no clear cut specialist for it. I've been palpating all the anatomical landmarks trying to zero in on what it might be, who I need to see, and nada. It's the Bermuda Triangle of medical fuckery, which probably means it's a secondary manifestation of the actual problem or a really random tumor or I'm totally crazy...take your pick.

OH! And I have a new PT. The guy I had is gone and not coming back. Interesting. We do a lot of PT over here and have been at that clinic a ton over the last few years. I've noticed some...patterns on the interpersonal side in terms of therapists who aren't there anymore. Office politics are a bitch...

New PT is more pleasant and able to engage with me without negging, but I think the original PT left a parting shot in the notes somewhere--bad intel or outright passive aggressive bullshit. The overall vibe is still off. But whatever. I'm almost done. 

So, in conclusion, five stars to proactive orthos. Yay for losing annoying PTs. And here's hoping I'm on the way to reducing the pain, increasing mobility*, and that the grapefruit is just some stupid lipoma or something really anti-climatic to where we all look like this when we find out what it is:

*After chasing down the dog and hauling water like an ox, I've been sidelined. Activity is disabling right now. Sure, I can walk. I can do okay. But anymore I can't do a lot if I want to be mobile consistently. My joints and soft tissue have no tolerance. As I explained to the ortho, walking in and out of that appointment was it for me that day. Standing to check in was too much.** Yes, whatever is going on has progressed that much of late.

**Which, side rant...by definition some specialties have patients with mobility issues. Podiatry. Orthopedics. PT. Like, can we not get some chairs and benches along the aisle where people wait to check in??? Or post a sign to offer patients who can't stand or move well a process they can invoke so there's a way for them to sit???? This is such a bizarre blind spot of medicine.