Okay so about the Doctor...*rolling of eyes*
I never actually got to see the Doctor at this office, and only ever saw his "assistant". I have never been so frustrated. So after the accident we waited a little while, saw a chiropractor, and when my should still wasn't healing quite right I went to see a specialist.
We scheduled the appointment for 4:00pm but they needed me to be there at 3:50 to fill out some paperwork. No problem, I figured I'd have to fill some things out anyway. Filling out the paper work took about five minutes, and then we waited...and waited....and waited.
My Mom had gone with me (I wasn't able to drive because of my neck and shoulder) anyway she went and double checked that they hadn't forgotten us, they hadn't...although they did forget this poor kid and his Mom. The nurse came out wanting to reschedule them because they had "missed" their appointment at 3:30, but they were sitting there when we got there, so that wasn't reassuring. His Mom refused to reschedule and they took them back, but from what I heard they were there to see a different Doctor anyway.
So they finally take me back (it's 4:45ish) the nurse takes some X-rays which takes like five minutes tops, and leaves us in one of the rooms. We wait twenty minutes for someone to come and the guy that comes in is the assistant. Which isn't abnormal, but he had to move my shoulder and "test" it. Which really hurt. We spoke for about ten fifteen minutes, and then he left and we waited for another twenty minutes. Then he (the assistant) came back said they were sending me to have an MRI and then walked us to the front desk, without talking to the Doctor.
Oh he also prescribed me an NSAIDs Meloxicam. And we got home at 6:00pm (our house is a five, ten minute drive from there depending on traffic). what could have been a half an hour visit was for some reason two hours.
So I couldn't get the inflammation medicine until the next day (Wednesday), since it was already so late. Thursday I went to have the MRI done, thankfully it was at a different office so things went fast and the building had a much better feel to it. It felt much more relaxed and cleaner. They injected Dye into my shoulder joint which even after they numbed things hurt really bad. It freaked the technician and the Doctor out a little bit that I could feel so much.
The MRI wasn't bad, a little Closter-phobic at first, but it wasn't bad. It took a half hour, but that's pretty normal.
The Doctor couldn't see me until the following Tuesday to discuss the results, but I made sure to schedule the appointment earlier so we wouldn't have to wait forever. So the appointment was set for 9:50 no one was in the waiting room when we got there so I naively thought "Oh good we won't have to wait long"...idiot.
Half an hour, that is how long we waited. They took two or three people back while we just sat there waiting. I was so irritated I couldn't say anything to the assistant who finally took us back.
But yet again the Doctor couldn't see me, just his assistant. Who said I had a bone spur...but bone spurs don't appear right after an accident, they take a while and I have never had any problems with my shoulder before. I've sprained and cracked my ankle, and sprained my knee, but never actually broken anything or had a shoulder injury.
Then he wanted to do a steroid shot to help with swelling, but I wanted to get a second opinion before doing anything like that.
I also happened to look at the Meloxicam side effects that morning and realized that my swollen fingers and toes were in fact a side effect, and one of the more serious ones. So I told the assistant that I was going to stop taking the Meloxicam since I was reacting badly to it and even discussed how I was reacting to it.
He said fine and prescribed me a different one. Celebrex...So when I got home I pulled out the Meloxicam papers and highlighted all the symptoms I had been having a few of the not too serious ones like stomach pain, heart burn, nausea...no big deal. But then I checked the ones that say to get emergency help and to stop using immediately which include Shortness of breath, swelling of face, nausea, tired or weaker than usual, stomach pain, swelling of the arms legs and hands and feet...And these are just the few off the sheet. I also got really OCD and emotional, the pain killer wasn't enough because my pain and the swelling in my shoulder had increased significantly.
So I figured I'd check online just to make sure it was okay to take Celebrex, and their list of warnings says not to take it if you have ever had a reaction to any NSAIDs which includes Meloxicam. So that freaked me out a little bit. We even checked with the pharmacist and she said she wouldn't chance it, since I reacted so badly to the other one. So I'm irritated that the assistant prescribed me another NSAID while knowing I wasn't reacting well to the other one...it's like he had no clue. He also wouldn't stick with anything he said. He was using words like sort of, kind of, I guess, yes but not really, maybe. And he mumbled something about a tear...but wouldn't say anything more about it.
Sine then I've been taking Turmeric and eating foods that are proven to help with swelling and inflammation. Amazingly the swelling has gone down and I am not taking as much painkiller. And Turmeric is just an herb commonly found in Indian or Thai food, so it won't kill me or have horrible side affects.
I'm just grateful we found something that is helping, and that my face isn't swollen anymore. I thought it was just getting rounder and fatter because I haven't been able to exercise for a few months.
We did get the official MRI report, but there is no mention of a bone spur...however there is mention of a tear (what he mumbled and refused to address). So I'm really hoping this new Doctor can 1: actually see me, and 2: shed some light on what's really going on.
I need my dominant hand back!
Oh I just remembered I talked to a Doctor friend of my Mom's and he said that a Steroid shot probably wouldn't even do much good if the NSAIDs didn't work...My body hates medicine...It's not a new thing to me Medicine has never really worked for me. It's just another med on a list of These Don't Work on Me.
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