and the boot is off
Posted by Adam | Filed under health
Back in January of this year, while playing soccer with some coworkers, I took a nasty spill and ended up fracturing the top of my left foot (5th metatarsal for those that are curious). The type of fracture, known as a Jones Fracture, occurs in an area of the bone that is particularly difficult to heal. I guess there is not a lot of healthy blood circulation, and thus, it just takes so much longer than a regular fracture to heal. As of this writing, I am still not technically healed, but I am excited to say, that I finally am out of my cam walker (soft casted boot) which I have worn now for over 5 months. It is weird to say the least, wearing normal shoes, walking up stairs, thinking of the day I might run again. I am supposed to wait another 2 months and go through a final set of x-rays before I am good to go. I think of all the things I missed, I missed dancing and fire spinning the most – and I happy to say that this last Saturday I lit up again for the first time since Thailand.
Going through all of this, I learned more about my health care insurance, and doctors in general than I ever have before (prior to this I had never sustained any kind of injury beyond a couple of stitches). Plenty of people already bemoan the health industry, and most of them have much more just cause than myself. That being said, I find the range of doctors I visited to vary greatly in quality. My first doctor examined me in urgent care, said I probably didn’t have a fracture, but ordered an x-ray anyway. He’s pretty much neutral in my book. As soon he saw that my foot was broken he referred me on to the referrer person (not a doctor) to go see a specialist. He said they would probably put me in a walker, I would need 2 weeks on crutches, and then I would be walking in a boot for about 6 weeks. In the mean time I am given crutches and my foot is splinted while my referral is processed (go HMOs).
5 days later the administrative office that is responsible for my referral has not called me back. I jump through a number of hoops and finally get an appointment with a podiatrist. My doctor turns out to be a semi-severe woman, who has little tolerance for my questions. She blanket tells me I need a cast and crutches for a minimum of six weeks. Needless to say I am upset by this as the previous doctor told me two weeks. She won’t budge and so I am stuck with the crutches and her recommendation. 6 weeks go by, then 9, then 12, and I am still not recovered. My bone was healing, but I was still 100% on crutches. And my doctor won’t commit on anything, wont say when I might be able to put on partial weight, and in general seems annoyed that I ask so many questions. I ask to get a second opinion in case I might need surgery.
Enter my third doctor, a kindly orthopedic surgeon. He goes through a thorough examination, and really talks me through the process and the complications with my injury. He suggests that we try putting some weight on it, to see how it goes. He says its all kind of an experiment, and people react differently. If I experience pain, stop. If I am not in pain keep going cautiously. Low and behold my foot starts to heal, and my new doctor works me through the process getting off crutches. Every time I saw him, he would take 15 minutes or so to talk about the kinds of activities I could be doing, checking the rate of my healing, and asking questions about my pain threshold etc. In the end, with either doctor, it may have taken the same amount of time, but having a doctor that was really very aware of my concerns, helpfully answering my questions, and open to new ideas really made the process easier.
I don’t know if some doctors just communicate better, or some doctors are just simply better at their profession, but if I ever have to go through a complicated health procedure again I really want a doctor like my last one. I think it is extremely unfortunate that so many people get shoddy health care (and so many more are not fortunate enough to have any health care). I think in some ways there is a crisis in the way we handle our professions and our jobs – we often don’t work with the degree of care that we should. In a world now where Obama is touting reforms in health care and universal coverage, I hope that we can all reach a point where we feel very comfortable with our doctors, and get the best care possible.