Doctor Said Knock You Out

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

After jumping through all the necessary hoops to get cleared for surgery, I was granted a last-minute stay: A new set of X-rays taken this morning revealed that the alignment of my bone has improved enough on its own that surgery at this point isn’t worth the trouble.

“I can still feel the bone moving around in there,” I said as the doctor showed me the X-rays.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re nowhere near healed yet. I would still expect a little movement. But when you first came in, the X-rays showed an angulation of 30 degrees at the break. Since then, the bone has straightened itself out beautifully, come look.”

“There’s good contact along 80 percent of the break,” she said, running her finger along the still somewhat scruffy-looking break line. “It looks great. Good news. Aren’t you relieved?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Although I did spend all weekend psyching myself up for surgery, convincing myself a steel plate would be kind of cool and futuristic.”

“We’ll just pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Okay. You’re right, I wasn’t looking forward to surgery.”

“I really wouldn’t be able to align it much better than it already is, and with all the added complications of cutting you open, especially with your diabetes and everything, it’s not worth it. I want to see you in another week for more pictures and, assuming everything looks as good as it does now, we’ll figure another six weeks.”

“Then what?”

“We’ll see. It’s going to take work to get you moving again.”

“Can I eventually expect a full range of motion?” I asked.

“It’s going to take work,” she said, “but you’ll get there. One thing at a time, though.”

“Okay.”

“So, I’ll see you in a week.”

“Oh, one other thing, you told me not to take the pain pills because you said it could interfere with my surgery, right? But now…”

“Knock yourself out.”