3 costly months of physical therapy, still have an injured ankle and…physical therapist is sending me to an orthopedic doctor. Saw the doc briefly today after waiting for over an hour and he wants an mri. Mri’s are crazy expensive.
I’d like to (very carefully) get up on my soapbox and say that the cost of healthcare to average working folks is ridiculous. Depending on what treatment I received at each visit, my physical therapy appointments have been between $125 – $250 each visit, two times a week for over 12 weeks. I have been making payments on this and other medical bills from the same injury, and now I’m supposed to pay more more more? Where is the money supposed to come from? Uggg. I am gingerly, carefully stepping down off my soapbox.
Tag: ankle
Stupid Ankle Update
My injured ankle has now become “my stupid ankle,” because I am frustrated and over it. I was excited a month ago that the physical therapist determined my talus bone was out of place, wedged under another bone, and freeing it would put me back on my feet in no time. I endured a super painful manual effort to free the bone that was supposed to be supported by the exercises I was doing to move the talus back where it belonged.
At my evaluation yesterday, it was determined, nope, the bone is not yet free, and basically all my strength and balance exercises for the last 2 months mean nothing until the bone is free to move in my ankle again. I sat through the excruciating process to try to push the bone out from its stuck spot and nearly barfed, ending with the physical therapist shaking her head and saying we’d have to get “more aggressive” in coming appointments. MORE aggressive? I am already sweating and nauseous from the pain…maybe I’ll be just lose consciousness if it gets more aggressive.
I’ve been sleeping a whole lot more lately, and if someone else told me they were going through a few months of physical therapy and sleeping more, I’d tell them that they need to rest and heal. Of course, I tell myself not that I need to rest and heal, but that I need to get out of bed and do something. Sigh. Stupid ankle.
Send healing thoughts; I need them. I found something on the magical world wide web that I will mention to my therapist tomorrow, because I’m sure she’ll be delighted that I am trying to create my own treatment plan, right? I found an option where a doctor numbs the area, puts it into traction like you would if you were setting a broken bone, and then exerts the necessary force to free the bone; if this is possible, while I’m sure the surrounding tissue will be inflamed and sore afterward, it would put an end to the slow painful efforts being made at PT. It’s worth asking.