Doctor doctor

This morning I went back to see my orthopedic surgeon. The swelling on my knee has gone down and I have increased flexibility, but the knee is still noticably swollen. He also noted that the muscles on my right thigh are atrophying. He declined to give me a cortisone shot, but said we should do three things. First, he put me on an oral anti-inflammatory. Second, he sent me upstairs for an MRI. Third, he said we should contemplate physical therapy for my thigh since losing muscle could hurt the knee in the future. He didn't want to start me on physical therapy yet for fear of aggrivating my knee.

On the way out of his office, the receptionist gave me a sheet of paper with exercises. She said that the MRI offices upstairs would take my insurance and said that if I went up they might be able to schedule me today. She told me to take the elevator.

As I filled out forms, the receptionist called about my insurance. She called a series of numbers, and then had to call another number to get pre-approval. Afterwards, she tried to explain the heath-care system and my insurance in particular to me. I'm still confused.

The doctor asked me what kind of music I liked. He said he had rock, jazz, and classical. I chose jazz. He laid me on the table and said the machine makes a noise like a jackhammer. He put headphones over my ears and soon I was listening to Kind of Blue. He ran the machine, cutting into the music to let me know what was going on.

Twenty minutes later, it was over and I was walking to the pharmacist to fill my prescription. I took the subway to work.
Posted by eku at November 28, 2005 5:16 PM