Another two trips to the hospital

Not emergency visits, thankfully.

First trip this morning was to see a hand specialist about my thumb. A young doctor, which had me a little concerned, but he seemed to know his shit. His diagnosis -- a torn radial collateral ligament. He was able to produce a scary noise/sensation checking the stability in a significantly more thorough exam than the one given by the nurse practitioner (well, duh). And he could show me the problem on the X-rays that were taken a few weeks ago where the bone (the proximal phalanx) was clearly subluxed. He recommended surgery to improve stability and strength, and hopefully get back my range of motion, since it looked like part of the reason I can't flex the joint is because things are out of alignment. I have my misgivings, but for now, I've tentatively scheduled the surgery for Tuesday morning.

Of course, it's not going to stop me from playing tomorrow and at the tournament this coming weekend. And my hope is that if I have the surgery sooner rather than later, I can have the post-op cast off in time for the summer club league end-of-season tournament (on the weekend of the 20th-21st) as well. The other advantage to having the surgery sooner is that it's less likely that he'd have to do a tendon graft to repair the ligament (meaning a more complicated procedure, and potentially a longer recovery time), which becomes more of a possibility the longer I wait.

I've also considered scheduling it for after the summer league tourney, but then the post-op cast stays on through dance camp (yes, I finally decided to attend with the SOOTTAD), and that just seems like a situation I'd like to avoid. 10 days of the whole plastic-bag-over-the-hand-one-handed-shower business is bad enough, without an extra 4 days during which I'd be getting all sweaty from dancing. I suppose I could keep pushing it out, but then we start bumping into school issues. And while I'm not sure there won't already be problems if I had the surgery immediately, I'm concerned that I'd have problems with technique class (and the assigned homework) if I don't get the surgery. (The physical therapist who was making my splint suggested that I might have problems with a damaged RCL, considering the number of massage therapists she was treating with collateral ligament issues.)

Anyway, trip two: MRI, for my knee. The doc at NWOA (recommended by my friend JBar), again with the more thorough evaluation than the last doctor, noticed a small amount of fluid present in my left knee and, given the symtoms and an absence of any indications of other ligament or tendon problems, thought it might be... a meniscus problem. So he ordered an MRI and I should be getting the results on Friday. Interesting experience -- the MRI facility at Newton-Wellesley is currently undergoing renovations, so their MRI machine is in a big 18-wheeler truck parked outside the building. Pretty uneventful, other than two botched runs because I was getting small spasms in my leg. Oh, and the appointment was at 10:30pm. I guess they're making good use of the equipment.

Ok, Order of the Phoenix tonight....