Friday, September 14, 2007

Doctor by default

I don't really have a doctor right now. All of the medical professionals I've seen over the last 2 years have been by default somehow.

I didn't want a doctor when I was pregnant, so I opted to go with a midwife. The midwife turned out to be a complete moron, and instead of getting the warm and fuzzy hippy water birth I had been planning for, I got an emergency C-Section instead. For some reason, the midwife who checked me at 36 weeks thought that she could feet "hands" pressing up against my cervix. Those hands eventually presented themselves as "feet" a week later, much to everyone in L&D's surprise, and at midnight, the OB on call was paged for surgery.

Once I upgraded from Medicaid, I decided to ditch the health clinic who had been doing my Post-Natal care and since I had no other contact with any doctors at that point, I went back to the OBGYN who did my c-section.

Then when I sprained my wrist, I went to the ER. Realizing that I technically STILL did not have a primary physician, I left the space blank. I have been leaving that space blank since I graduated from College, and was no longer covered by my parent's health plan.

Maybe this isn't such a good thing.

I was referred by the hospital to the left-overs from health services (the big medicaid acceptor in my county). I was told to go there if my wrist continued to hurt. There I saw a Nurse Practitioner who ordered an x-ray but really could not give me any advice as far as what I could do to prevent myself from injuring my wrist in the future.

Now, a month later, it still hurts. I know its not broken, and I highly doubt its still sprained. All I know is that about 6 weeks ago something tweaked inside my wrist, and it hasn't felt the same since.

I want it to get better. I don't want to have to wear a brace for the rest of my life because I've permanently weakened my body. I hate that some days it will be fine, and other days I will wake up in the middle of the night with a grating THROB inside my wrist. And the bad part? My other wrist is starting to act the same way. I haven't told the Nurse Practitioner this because I've been guilty of putting extra pressure on my other wrist while the the gimpy one is in the splint. I also haven't been icing or keeping the splint on as long as I should be.

I've now been referred to Durango Orthopedics for an MRI. I don't really know what an MRI is, but I think it has something to do with muscles and tendons instead of bones. I really am clueless. I never had the whole "sports injury" experience like so many of my more athletic peers. I got shin splints when I played basketball, but that's nothing, really.

So I hope I can figure out a way to be a smarter, stronger mama. I know most of this is my responsibility to take care of myself. Maybe I've been spoiled my whole life by having a strong (or maybe just lucky) physique. Maybe now that I'm pushing 26, maybe I should come to the realization that I'm getting older and can't push myself as hard as I used to. Sad, cause 26 really isn't all that old.

Do I really have THAT delicate of a wrist? Now that I'm looking at them, they do look kind of flimsy compared to the rest of my sturdy, Gaelic-Germanic body. Maybe I should just take it easy before I really get myself into trouble.

Or maybe I should just get a nice family doctor who I can regularly visit when I'm healthy instead of waiting till I am driving to the ER with one hand on the stick, and the other elevated above my head while steering with my elbow.

What do you think?

3 comments:

Elly said...

=\ I thought MRIs were nerve X-rays. I know I had an MRI to detect my MS. Good luck with your wrist and have faith in the power of positive thinking :)

Anonymous said...

Hey =)
An MRI shows all the different layers in an appendage; making sure they're okay and don't look goofy. It really sucks that you have to have one; I hope it's all good. Anyways, did you see the Broncos today? How about the evil genious of Mike Shanahan calling a time-out before the Raiders kicked the field goal? hehehe

Love ya, JL

KarmaTee said...

I injured my back a while ago and, because I also do not have a primary care physician (the wait list at the only Drs. office in town accepting new patients was three weeks long) I went to Urgent Care. There I was told to stay off my feet and take Advil. Then I got a bill for $122 for the visit. This is modern health care? I even have health insurance that supposedly covered part of the cost of the visit! Affordable housing and the constant conflict of oil and gas vs. environment are big issues in Four Corners, sure, but health care is reaching crisis level.