Ok, I'm back. I'm almost too tired to type but I'll probably be even more so later on, so here goes: The PA was glad I fired the nasty Home PT person. When he heard my tale, he branded her unprofessional and incompetent. I enjoyed the sweet smell of vindication. But....I will have to attend Outpatient PT for ROM only; NO STRENGTH MOVES. My ROM is only a dismal 30 when trying to do a heel-slide and obviously not good enough. He was furious that the PT had already mentioned the possibility of MUA. He said it's much too early to make any sort of judgement in that regard, (and not HER job) but if needed, it would be done somewhere between 8-12 weeks. He also said he sees many patients with cruddy ROM at 2 weeks who end up doing very well; phew! In my case, there IS still a lot of swelling and apparently, I had a lot of bleeding, (hence, very colorful leg) which, according to him, contributes to pain and stiffness. He'd like me to continue with the R.I.C.E. routine as much as possible, but walk once per hour for about 5 minutes each hour. He mentioned those darned TEDS, but I think I'll take a pass on that suggestion. I have a few ACE bandages and other compression items that are much more user-friendly than TEDS.
Now, hold onto your hats! Are you sitting down? He said I am under-medicated! Anyone who lives in this country can appreciate just what an astonishing statement that is for a doc to make in this very drug paranoid climate. If he says so, I'm certainly not going to fight it. He feels if I was properly medicated I'd be sleeping better....hmmm, can't really argue with that either. So, he wants me to use 10mg of Oxy, not 5mg as I've been doing, especially at bedtime. He's all about getting in good zzzz's.
He did say I could use my judgment and use the higher dose on a PRN basis during daylight hours. I was flattered to hear he believes I have good judgment since I entered his office with pinpoint pupils and Pug hair on my black pants. However, I wasn't drooling or slurring my words, so that probably helped. He actually offered Dilaudid, but I turned it down since I really don't wish to feel like a resident of Andromeda or Bellevue. For some reason, I actually like to have my few wits about me.
The Staples: Well....not exactly fun, but actually the four sutures I had were much worse. It seemed they required some ....er...*digging*. Mistah had to leave the room; hah! It probably would've been better to wait another day or two, but hey, I was there and so was he. Since it was a bit of a bloody mess, he decided to cover the area with steri- strips. I guess they'll fall off on their own. Right now, I'm just relieved to have those staples out and that pulled skin sensation gone; yeehaw!
United States
