I can see clearly now... (8 Months + 8 Days)

Maybe the rain isn't gone, but I can see clearly.

In hindsight, I think it's a good thing that my orthopedist was so completely useless at my last appointment - first talking to me about the results of my DVT ultrasound from October, instead of the one I had a few weeks ago, then basically telling me that he couldn't/didn't want to do anything about my hip. He tried to blow the 'recurrent tear' off as an 'artifact' of the surgery, and maybe it is, but then why does my hip continue to hurt so much? I understand you can have a torn labrum and live with it - in fact I did, for 15 years - but when objective results show there is a problem and your patient has symptoms that are highly correlated with said problem, shouldn't you, like, not totally blow the patient off? Like... I mentioned that the radiologist who read the MRI also remarked that I have what appears to be a very large uterine fibroid. According to Dr. Google, just like torn labrums, uterine fibroids may or may not be symptomatic. Since I don't have any of the symptoms related to uterine fibroids, I'm not concerned. However, if I had gone in for an MRI for heavy menstrual bleeding and pelvic pain and constipation, and they found that I had a 5 cm uterine fibroid, that would be a significant finding. Hello. I went in to have an arthrogram of my hip because of continuing pain in my hip. According to the radiologist, I have a 'recurrent' labral tear, which given the circumstances, seems relevant. No? And if not, then offer me an alternative explanation for the pain or at least tell me you have no idea what it is.

Geez.

At any rate, it is all good. It is good because at least this last appointment made me realize that I have had. enough. And I am sooooo looking for a new doctor, which I probably should have done a while ago, but didn't for a number of reasons. Among those: a) I hate change, and don't deal well with it at all; b) I hardly ever go to the doctor, and it's a big deal for me to go to a doctor, especially a new one (see 'a'); and c) I like my doctor; he is super nice and personable (and cute, lol), which unfortunately made me put up with his shortcomings as a healthcare provider for way too long. I guess I needed something to finally push me over the edge, and this last appointment definitely did that.

I called another orthopedist on Friday - the one my current orthopedist recommended back in January. I'm not sure how much I trust my orthopedist's judgment, but it's not as if I have an abundance of choices. If I don't get a good feel from the guy, I won't waste any time giving him second and third and fourth and fifth chances, but it's worth at least one chance. I haven't heard back from him yet, which is not a great sign - although I did call late on Friday afternoon, so we shall see.

To add to my list of gripes about my current orthopedist, I mentioned that there has been an ongoing issue with the pain cream he prescribed in January, which I never got and apparently never will get because my insurance won't cover it. Thus, when he prescribed another cream/gel thing for my bursitis on Thursday, I was wary, but he told me that unlike the pain cream, this was something any local pharmacy would be able to provide. I had no problem getting it, and it turns out the gel is Voltaren/diclofenac, which I had previously tried in pill form for my hip pain, but didn't really help and caused a lot of GI distress. (Interestingly, the gel form has helped a lot, and my left hip feels a lot better already.)

Anyway, because his MA had spent so much time on the pain cream, the one that has to be ordered from an out-of-state compounding pharmacy for whatever reason, I sent an e-mail via the patient portal explaining the situation and clearly stating it was all just FYI. (It's now clear to me that only the MAs read the e-mails.) I mentioned that I got a response from a different MA saying that she had talked to the doctor and he could prescribe a pill for me instead, which I thought was weird considering he never mentioned it before. So I e-mailed her back and asked what the pill was.

She replied: 'The pill is called diclofinac [sic] 75 mg.'
I replied: 'I am confused. I do have a diclofenac gel - that was covered by insurance and I was able to get it in town. The cream I was referring to was the one that needs to be ordered from an out-of-state compounding pharmacy.'
She replied: 'Oh I see that Dr [Loser] ordered voltaren gel as a topical, I don't see he ordered a compound medication.'

So the one time I get a prompt response back from a well-meaning MA, she obviously doesn't have a clue, and neither does the doctor. Geez.

In other news, it is beautiful outside today, around 70 degrees. I, of course, used the beautiful weather to get a jump start on yard work. As I was doing yard work, I noticed that my right leg hurt when I went to squat down, much the same way it used to hurt when I had a raging case of undiagnosed DVT. To be honest, I was alarmed when I noticed it, but tried to ignore it. However, mid-afternoon, my mom stopped by and, completely unsolicited, asked, 'Is your blood clot in your right leg?' I said yes, and she replied that my right leg was totally swollen. I looked down, and sure enough, Mom was right. (Of course she was; this is coming from someone who hasn't been to a doctor in a decade, who does not notice things like this unless they're really bad.) Ugh. I mean, I always knew it was a possibility that given the extent of my DVT, it might never go away and might cause permanent damage to my veins and might be something I would have to deal with forever and ever. But I knew this in the same way that I knew that hip surgery might not fix my hip pain and might even make it worse. I knew these were worst case scenarios and assumed they wouldn't apply to me, and that the probability of them NOT applying to me were in my favor. Nonetheless, I have to admit that my leg is very swollen, and hurts. I'm not sure what, if anything, I am going to do about it, but a little voice inside of me is telling me that perhaps I need to find a doctor who knows something about DVT. I don't know.

Weirdly enough, if I had a choice between dealing with hip pain for the rest of my life and dealing with DVT for the rest of my life, I'd choose hip pain. I just hope it isn't both.