I was going to wait until I found out if this was going to really work, but I’ve been so pissed about it that I had to let it out.
I don’t know how many of you remember this, but I have a problem with my left clavicle that dates back almost two years. I searched and realized that I actually didn’t tell you all about it, so I’m gonna give you the whole gist of it.
One day in late March, I woke up as usual, went to school as usual, and did the usual high school senior stuff that we typically did. As the day went on, however, I had noticed a pain on my clavicle that was bothering me like anything. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why it hurt.
So, I went home after school, and told my mom “Something’s up with my collarbone. I don’t know why, but it hurts.”
So Mom turned on her little office light and looked at it. She looked slightly bewildered and palpated it carefully, and then proceeded to say “It’s bent.”
I was shocked beyond words. What the hell? Where did THAT come from? I palpated and found that, yes it was bent, and it was very worthy of a “wtf” moment.
Anyway, we scheduled immediately for me to see Dr. Jay the following day. He took a look at it, and then we got an x-ray, and he took a look at that. To our confusion, nothing showed up. He prescribed I have my arm in a sling for a week and he said that he was going to refer me to an orthopedic.
Unfortunately, he never did (and maybe it was better that way, because I didn’t have health insurance, and that shit’s expensive). The bone’s been bent ever since, and it hurts on and off all the time. I can’t sleep on that side, I can’t rest my head on that arm for a certain period of time, lifting isn’t a good idea, and sometimes it just hurts for no freakin reason.
Last year, I was on the track team, and in the hopes that maybe someone could figure something out, I went to the AT room (athletic training). They said “let’s treat it as a soft tissue problem” and gave me a bag of ice. Let me tell you, the ice was very far from helpful. In fact, it hurt like hell to have the ice on it even without putting any pressure on it at all. So I gave up, and hoped that some day I’d either have the money, or have health insurance, to afford seeing a specialist. At that point, I figured that since no one could figure out what caused it, the only way to fix it would be to break it. And I was perfectly accepting of it, albeit a little pissed since I had gone for so long without breaking anything.
Now I bring you to the present, 2009. Because of financial issues, we’ve got a shot at getting Medicaid. And as soon as I found out, I thought to myself that hey, this would be the perfect opportunity to see an orthopedic about getting this damn clavicle fixed, especially since it bothers me more and more.
Since I didn’t have a yellow pages handy, I went to the next best place to find out info on medical stuff — the health center here at IC. I went in with a clear mission: find out about the orthopedics in the area and get contact info so I can get in touch with them and discuss fixing my problem. It turns out that doing this wasn’t anywhere near as easy as I thought it was going to be. The nice receptionist at the desk told me “We have an orthopedic here… well, he knows sports medicine really well, and he’s a top doctor.”
Ironically, this doctor was the doctor I was trying to be referred to by the AT’s last year (because apparently if I’m on a sports team, I have to get to referred to him if the AT’s see fit… lame asses). I had to see a PA first (physician’s assistant) and was referred to the MD later that day.
Dr. Getzin (that’s his name) took a look at me, and the x-rays I had done earlier that day, and he couldn’t figure out what had happened to cause the problem. In the end, I was referred, again, to see a physical therapist for rehab so that we can “get rid of the discomfort and pain.”
That’s the end of my story, but it’s not the end of my dilemma.
I don’t understand why nobody seems to be listening to me, like they think I’m completely clueless about what’s going on, like I don’t know anything, like I’m not studying to be a doctor who specialized in musculoskeletal injuries and treatments. I’m not interested in finding out the cause of the bend; I’ve accepted the fact that shit happens, like how a friend of mine dislocated her shoulder and tore her labrum in her sleep out of nowhere (she needed surgery for it…). What I’m interested in is getting this bone of mine straight and normal again. No one listens to me when I try to give my opinion, and I don’t understand why, but everyone seems to think this is a soft tissue problem. Hell, Getzin was saying that this could be a chronic overuse injury from playing volley-ball.
Okay, first off, how the hell is it an overuse injury? I only played volleyball once a week. That’s bullshit, and it sure as hell ain’t overuse. It’s not a soft tissue problem, I don’t think, because the only place where there’s pain is where the bend is. If soft tissue was some how involved, I would think the pain would be more spread out. And it’s only the bone that’s tender to palpation, and that hurts whenever I do something like put some kind of compression force on it. The AC (acromioclavicular) and SC (sternoclavicular) joints are perfectly fine, they aren’t strained or out of place. Again, if that was the case, the pain would be there.
What pisses me off about all of this is, like I said, nobody is freakin’ listening to me. Getzin said he wanted to fix this by eliminating the discomfort and pain to make my life better. The x-ray technician was saying that you can’t just reset the clavicle because of all the pressure it’s under, and surgery it just not worth it.
But you see, seeing a physical therapist isn’t going to get rid of the pain. A physical therapist can’t straighten bones. And just how would anyone know whether it would be worth it for me to get surgery except only me. I’m the one that knows what she wants for her body, not the rest of you fuckheads! All I know is, while nobody can figure out what caused it, it’s most likely a bone problem that can’t be fixed with just rehab by a PT. It needs to get broken and reset, and I don’t care. I’ll probably have to get surgery done, but I don’t care. Put a metal plate in me, I DON’T CARE!!! All I want is just to fix this bend, because it’s the bend in the clavicle that is the biggest problem, my ONLY problem. I want to be able to move around all I want without having my clavicle suddenly hurting. I don’t care about the cause of the problem, I WANT A GOD DAMNED SOLUTION!
I’ve no idea if Getzin would even think about referring me to an orthopedic once it’s clear that freakin’ therapy isn’t going to do shit. Whatever. Once it’s confirmed that I have health insurance I don’t care. I gonna find someone who will fix this fucking problem of mine. And once I get out of school and become an orthopedic doctor myself, I’m not going to make any kind of recommendations as to how I think they’re problem is gonna be solved until I get an opinion from them as well, to try and accommodate and figure out what’s truly best. You see, people aren’t stupid; an individual knows their body better than anyone else. What happens when someone has a problem come up that they don’t understand? They look shit up to learn more about what goes on, and then they look for people that will best fix that problem. I knew a bunch of things about injuries just by looking up stuff even before I went to college and learned even more. HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK THAT WE FIND THOSE DOCTORS THAT WE NEED?! WE LOOK IT UP! We’re not fucking stupid! I’m not stupid! I may only be a sophomore undergrad, but I know things! I know myself better than you ever will, so FUCKING LISTEN TO MY FUCKING OPINION WHEN I GIVE IT TO YOU!!!
Jan 26 2009