I have had bad luck in the past with general practitioners when it comes to special problems. Once my son broke his wrist and was told by the GP Doctor it was only sprained and I was once told my other ankle was fine when I had a frayed tendon. I had an orthopedic surgeon once tell me to never take the opinion of a GP on orthopedic injuries because they don’t know how to read x-rays. So as a result I stopped using HMO’s that require you to jump through hoops before getting help and have been on 80/20 ever since and love it as I can see any specialist I want any time. Besides my yearly total family deductible is only $550 a year and my catastrophic cap is only $2500 a year, which is the most I will have to pay no matter how much it cost. Uncle Sam really pays you back after a career in the Service. I know a man who lives in my neighborhood who pays $1500 a month for him and his wife‘s basic coverage.
OK to the point of this entry. My appointment with the orthopedic surgeon who is also a sports medicine doctor looked at my right foot x-rays and said that I had some of the largest ankle bones and tendons he had seen in a while and that although I had a substantial contusion and bruising to all three sides of my foot which had also been hyper extended, no breaks or tears to the ligaments took place even though my tendons had been stretched, which is very rare considering the amount of bruising on my ankle bones. Being a sports medicine doctor as well he lectured me on the use of athletic foot protection and explained how the boots I should have been wearing are designed from years of research and the reason why they manufacture them with metal and PVC reinforcement is to keep the foot from hyper extending and bruising the way mine did (“so ware your race boots!”) So he wrapped my foot in a pressure wrap to hold the loose bones together until the tendons shrink and to stop the swelling. He also put me on steroids to stop the inflammation and perkidan to help with the pain and told me to come back in a week to change the wrap. So I am happy and cant wait to get back into my workout and in the desert , this time with my race boots on. Sorry no pictures as I forgot my camera…
PS, This makes the 3rd accident in my life where I wasn’t severely injured. 1st in Yokohama Japan when I was hit by a car on my bicycle and thrown across the intersection and landed on the sidewalk bruised, the driver and pedestrians were shocked when I stood up and only bruised along the right side of my body. 2nd time I T-boned a car on the freeway with my motorcycle in 1987 bounced off the side of the car braking all the windows and got up again very bruised on the right side of my body and now this minor incident.
