Wednesday, September 24, 2008

torn ligament?

The Saga of my wrist pain continues.
Yesterday afternoon I had my third appointment with my hand doctor. The cortisone shots haven't worked. And I had a very interesting and stressful consultation with my Doctor.

There happened to be a Doctor from Sweden who was there visiting the center, working with the doctors to demonstrate a new piece of equipment that tests muscle strength. Dr. Brown gave him a little of the background information on my case, mentioning that I had been worried that one of wrist bones seems "prominent"? was that the word he used. My Doctor hadn't seen anything wrong around that bone, telling me that the bump on the wrist is normal and that it was nothing to worry about (he wouldn't listen to me when I said that it WASN"T normal for me, and that my wrist seems to be twisted to the side). The swedish doctor immediately and gingerly picked up my wrist, felt around, and said "that bone isn't pushing up. THIS other bone is pushing down!" I knew that was always the case, but Dr. Brown had never paid attention. The appointment continued, with me being tested by the swedish doctor with the new machine, and nothing came up abnormal. So basically, at the end, Dr. Brown told me AGAIN that he just couldn't tell what was wrong me, and if he couldn't find anything wrong then he couldn't fix me! (but he will keep trying) It was at this point that Swedish doctor said to mine, politely, obviously not wanting to intrude on his diagnosis. "Her case reminds me of one I have seen before". The swedish doctor knew what was going on, and I'm going to get an official second opinion from someone else, because this is what the Swedish doctor said - he has seen cases where a very small ligament inside the wrist has come loose, making the wrist look very much like how mine looks. It apparently is very difficult to diagnose, and even harder to fix. The only way to know for sure if this is what's happened to me is to open up my wrist and look inside.

I need surgery. I'm screwed.

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