So remember when almost two weeks ago I slipped and fell at home, spraining two toes on my right foot? Well, the toes were actuallly much better after a couple of days, but then I started to notice hip and leg pain (left side) which got progressively worse, to the point where I could barely walk or even sleep. I would have gone to the doctor sooner, but I knew I had my CT scan today, so thought that I would visit the Traumatology emergency ward while I was at the hospital. I mentionded the fall to the CT technician, who said they were only in charge of the job they were given (thorax and abdomen cancer screening) but said there would be no problem having an x-ray taken after the scan.
Wrong! When I got in to see the Traumatology doc she had already found my CT scan (which stopped just below hip level) up on the computer. Lucky for me it had already been uploaded into the system because it meant I didn’t have to get an x-ray done, which the doc said she wouldn’t have advised anyhow, right after a scan. She took her time going through the scan and finally said that she couldn’t see any bone damage. Then she got me up on the table and started poking around.
Does this hurt? No.
Here? No.
How about here? AAAARRRRGH!!!
Then she went through the same process while moving my leg around, until she found the aaaarrrrgh position. And then she went back to the scan and studied it some more. I was dying to ask her if she saw anything cancer related, but knew that doctors don’t like to interfere with other departments, though she did ask when I was seeing the oncologist again (gulp! will really start to worry if they call and say I have to see the onc immediately, usually it’s 2-3 weeks after the scan).
In the end she decided that the pain was most likely related to the fall (though not necessarily) and it was either a hematoma or an inflamed tendon. But she said that in either case the “treatment” was the same: ice, ibuprofen and REST. When I asked if I could still walk (ie do my tours) she said NO WALKING. Then I asked how long I had to do the treatment, and was told “as long as it takes”. Actually I kind of liked her no-nonsense attitude, and that she did the examination in a thorough, thoughtful and unhurried manner. And so I have decided to follow doctor’s orders.
I am so used to the other pain (lower back, sciatica, etc) that actually benefits from gentle walking rather than staying still, so this is why I just kept (painfully) walking the past week or so. But this pain is really different, shooting down the side and front of my thigh, reaching at times to the front of my calf, unlike anything I have experienced before. Of course it’s boring to be housebound, but luckily Peter can do my tours this week. So I have no excuse. And I wouldn’t fancy going back to the doc saying I hadn’t taken her advice and the leg STILL hurts…
