My wrist adventure has just been a nightmare. I want to chronicle it so far.
| Date | Doctor | Prognosis |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2014 | Me | I hit a tennis shot funny and my wrist hurt. I said, “Ow!” – Unbeknownst to me, I tore ligaments in my wrist. |
| 1 week later | Doc #1: Kaiser | She said it was a sprain and suggested not playing for a few days. |
| 2 weeks later | Doc #1: Kaiser General Practice | She says sometimes sprains take a few weeks. |
| Oct 2014 | Doc #2: Kaiser Specialist | Original doctor gives up and refers me to Doctor #2. He takes X-Ray even though he says it won’t show anything. It doesn’t. |
| Nov 2014 | Doc #2 | Orders MRI – results are inconclusive. No problems found. |
| Dec-Jan 2015 | Doc #2 | Back and forth emails. He suggests avoiding tennis for the rest of my life. He sucks. |
| Jan 2015 | Me | I search for another doctor. Lots of research. |
| Feb 2015 | Doc #3: Stanford Medical | Doctor suggests putting it in a cast for a month to see if it heals. “Immobilize it!” (This is out of Kaiser’s network BTW) |
| Mar 2015 | Me | Cast off, still hurts. Damn it! Gotta find another doctor inside Kaiser. |
| Apr 2015 | Doc #4: Kaiser | He suggests a cortisone shot. |
| Apr-Sept 2015 | Me | No pain! Love cortisone. However, cortisone only MASKS the injury. I played tennis all summer and probably made the injury worse. |
| Sept 2015 | Me | Ow, starting to hurt again. |
| Oct 2015 | Doc #4 | Let’s try cortisone again. |
| Oct -Dec 2015 | Me | Doesn’t feel as good as the last shot. I can play a little, but it degrades quickly. Around this time, I switch jobs and get a new healthcare package. No more Kaiser. |
| Jan 2016 | Doc #3 at Stanford again – in network | He says he can’t find the problem, so the only answer is arthroscopic surgery. |
| Jan 2016 | Doc #3 | They perform surgery and put me in a soft cast for 2 weeks while the swelling goes down. He confirms the problem was ruptured ligaments and cartilage. He had to do alot of repair and add 2 metal pins to hold it all in place. |
| Feb 2016 | Doc #3 | Hard cast put on for 6 more weeks. |
| Mar 2016 | Doc #3 | Cast removed and pins removed. |
| Mar 2016 | Occupational Therapist | Rehab begins. They said it will take 3 months I can barely move my wrist. I am improving my millimeters per day. |
| Now | Me | This is the time of the blog post. The lack of exercise (and pain in my wrist) has made me really irritable. I am annoying other people. |
| Jun 2016 | Me | Predicted time I can play tennis gain. Hopefully. |
| Jul 2016 | Me | Scheduled date for Karma to give me my next injury. (Sarcasm) |
So that’s about 18 months so far and about 2 years from injury to recovery. Getting old sucks. MRIs aren’t very helpful. Many doctors don’t really know what they are doing. I think it feels better to have at least wrote down the history.
Whatya think?