Doc's Report

Sam and I headed to the city on Tuesday for my appointment with my doctor so he could go over my recent bone scan. One nice thing about this doctor is that if your appointment is set at 10:30 a.m., you get in to see him at 10:30 a.m. (or even a few minutes early). Darn punctual.

The doctor had received the report from the RUH Nuclear Medicine and they say they definitely do see that where my pelvis area has been broken in the past. Further they state that possibly one of my lower ribs has also been broken in the past. This was also news to me as to my knowledge I've never had any bones broken.

The Nuclear Medicine folks want me to return for another test in 3-4 months time to see how I'm healing. Meanwhile my doctor wants to send me to an orthopedic surgeon to see what he has to think about the whole thing. He wants to find out if it is my bones that are brittle/weak or if it is another type of problem (ie cancer or somesuch).

About this time, I was starting to get a bit apprehensive though. After asking the doctor what the orthopedic surgeon would be looking at, he advised it could go a few different directions. The easiest would be for the surgeon to view the xrays & bone scan and pronouce that I was fine. Or he may have to go in for a bone biopsy to see what my bones are made from and to see if maybe there is something lacking. The ultimate would be for the surgeon to open me up and search around, etc. This didn't sound too great to me for sure. However, my doctor continued on that it would probably put me out of action for some time (ie 6-7 months) and I'd likely need therapy, etc. Of course there would be no driving.

Hummm, now I really didn't like this as of course we live out in the sticks and driving is the only method to get our prescriptions, appointments, etc. Let alone for me to get to therapy sessions 3-4 times a week for a couple weeks. So I queried the doctor and he felt that it would probably be better for us to be in the city nearer to facilities. Great, that would mean selling our house and moving out of Hanley and into Saskatoon (or Regina).

However, that is a 'worst case' scenario and I'm not going to dwell on it too much at this point in time. I'm sure it will take a bit of time to get all my appointments etc setup before we transverse to the 'ultimate'. If it needs to happen, then we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Even though I say that, one of the first things I did when I got home, was to start looking at the newspapers for condos and other accomodation in the city. I figure if we sell our house in Hanley for near to what we bought it for we will be able to pick up a condo in the city for about the same price. Mind you we'll definitely be getting out of the 'storage business' we are now in.

Another prospect is Jubilee Residense in Saskatoon. They have various options available for people that are 55+ and officially retired. We would qualify here as well, but then we'd loose any equity we'd built up in the house, etc. That would be an option, just not my first choice. But as I said, we'll worry about that a bit down the road.

Continuing on with my doctor, he decided he wanted more xrays done and gave me a slip to take to the imaging place on 8th Street. They took me right in and started xraying away. I'm sure I must glow in the dark nowadays from all these xrays and radiation they have been putting in me of late. The technician was pointing in on my hip/pelvis area however, she also wanted my supposedly broken rib area.

After about 15 minutes of xraying in every pose I was told to go out and sit down but now to put my clothes back on. As I was sitting there I heard two of the ladies going over my xrays when one remarked that it looked like I had an extra rib or something. I groaned to myself and thought to myself "Don't go there, if you find something like that they'll want to remove it to study or something stupid". Anyway, after a few minutes I went back in and got a few more xrays and then was sent on my merry (yah rite!) way.

The part that gets me is that for the most part my hip/leg have not been hurting me too much of late and I've been able to get out and walk/jog a bit. With all the stretching, yanking, and organizing me for pictures the last while the hip/leg have been extremely sore.

I normally like to take a bit of a walk around town every day or so. Of late I just have not been able to do that though as the pain was bit much. After my latest episode with the xrays the hip has hurt quite a bit, however, I was bound that I was going to get some exercise. So I have been trying to at least take a short walkabout every second day. In essense I've just been taking it easy.

So far it does seem to be helping. The hip/leg is still a bit sore, but it does appear to be getting better than it was. Now if I can just resist the temptation to go for a normal longer type walk and be content with what I have for now I should be fine.

After thinking long and hard of how I could have broken my pelvis/rib I really can't remember when I may have done this. I do know that last year when I was curling my hip was extremely sore for about a week. I didn't fall or anything and actually it hurt more when I was sweeping. I queried my doctor about this and he felt that it just may have been the what brought the problem to the forefront. As to whether I'll be able to curl this winter, the doctor was non-committal. He wanted to see how he made with getting the orthopedic surgeon involved, etc.

I almost feel I'm back in the military. "Hurray up and wait". But then I should be thankful for at least getting quick attention from the medical profession.