Friday, August 09, 2013

Knee Watch 2013, part 2

I have got to say that there is nothing quite like private medical insurance when you’re in the UK. I’m particularly grateful for the policy that my company has now (and am well aware that I, personally, would not have paid for this level of coverage because it’s a significant amount per year) because they’ve helped to get me an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon just days after my GP agreed to refer me to one.

Now, those of you not in the UK will realise how great this is. If I had been referred to an orthopaedic surgeon on the NHS, I’d have to wait up to 18 months as I’m down as a non-emergency case.

18 months.

That’s a long time to be waiting for a consult.

I’d think most people would have expected to be better by then, and the hassle of trying to convince a GP that you need to see a specialist when the only signs they’re looking for is whether your knee is swollen and whether you can walk isn’t quite wearing, even for the most persistent of patients.

So, I saw the orthopaedic surgeon yesterday. Having listened to my knee history and examined the movement of my knee, he says I seem to not just display some signs of a sprained knee (which can be explained by a torn meniscus) but also ligament damage. Now, the latter, I was not expecting, although it does make sense given that my osteopath detected excessive movement in my injured knee but he had thought it might have been because that knee was hypermobile.

As for the dance weekend… I’m still going. It’s at a seaside resort with proper sand and all, so if it turns out I can’t dance, my boyfriend and I will enjoy the beach instead. I’m grateful that he knows how important this is for me that he’s not suggested selling the places (and instead let me be the one to make the decisions even though desire is overriding common sense right now).

Did the surgeon try to dissuade me? Yes, to a point. But he also said he sensed how important this was to me, and that it would ultimately be up to me to decide, not for him. After all, there’s a school of thought that says that I’ve already done the damage to myself so there’s not that much more I can do. Heh.

(He’s not irresponsible, by the way. He treats top-level athletes so he can sense these things.)

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