All I Wanted Was Some More Ibuprofen

Wow! My sister was right, Blogger.com has been totally upgraded! Too bad nobody reads blogs anymore, it seems that Facebook has taken over. Still? I'm going to post here with a gripe/rant, and maybe even make it accessible to all 20 of my facebook buddies.

 It's really about my frustrations. Mostly and top level about a stupid broken ankle that I'm not getting the medical help to fix. Briefly, I fell hard and broke my ankle on Aug 6th. I was in the local hospital's ER within 45 minutes of that fall, and their X-rays showed what I already knew; I'd broken my ankle. Sadly, my local ER won't cast a broken bone, instead they splint it loosely and reccomend that you see your own Doctor who also won't cast a broken bone, but will refer you to an Orthopedic Specialist.

 I looked at those X-rays, and deduced that it was a simple Fibular Fracture with no displacement, meaning that it wasn't too complicated of a break.
 I took home a perscription for NSAIDS, Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatories, and decided to treat it as I would any animal wound. ie, with lots of Practical Nursing, and a lot of supportive bracing.

10 days later I was running out of anti-inflammatories, so I went to see my Primary Care Doc. All I really wanted was some more Ibuprofen!
I've known this Doc for 25 years, which meant I listened to him after he'd listened to me. He sent me for more X-rays, and I looked at those too.  (When I studied Vet Medicine, my fave department was radiology)

. The new X-rays indicated that my ankle was not healing as it should have been, partly because I am just aging, and mostly due to the fact that despite all my support and care, I just cannot stay off of it; I have animals and gardens that must be cared for whether I am limping or not.
   Believe me, I am limping.

 I accepted my Doctor's strongly worded advice to see his own Orthopedic man to find out whether it just needed a heavy cast applied tomorrow, or whether it needed re-breaking and then a heavy cast applied. He led me to believe it was a 'done deal' for tomorrow,
, as his Ortho guy was to be at my local doctor's office tomorrow.
 All I had to do was call to confirm...

 Which was wrong.

 After 5 phone calls to the Orthopedic doctor since last Friday I finally got ahold of his receptionist/scheduler this morning, only to discover after they did 20 minutes of intake medical info that the Ortho Doctor won't be back in my town for another 30 days.
 Instead, they invited me to schedule a sooner appointment (their soonest being 10 days from now) in one of 2 other towns, both nearly 50 miles away.
 I have no transportation. There is no shuttle service available through my very basic state funded Welfare type of Insurance.
 There's no WAY I can ask a friend to waste 1 or even 2 days trying to get me there. And all I really wanted, was some more Ibuprofen!

 So, I am back to square 1, self doctoring. I am a pretty good field medic, and will continue to treat this ankle with sense, homopathy, and a stubborn belief in my own healing abilities.
  I will continue to pester my Primary Care Doc for some more NSAIDS, for after all, they are not a drug-of-choice for abusing.
  The prescription strength NSAID  works sooo much better then the exact same amount of over-the-counter Ibuprofen or Aleve. Cheaper, too, as I cannot at this time afford even 1 dollar's worth of Dollar Store remedies and my insurance will pay for a scrip.  Please, send beer. It's the best mild painkiller I know. Magz, 8-19-2013 5;30pm