Dislocated shoulder

[Winston]

Thanks.

The folks that are to contact me from the clinical sports medicine place are orthopedic specialists, not to worry. They'll do an MR-scan and I will get a diagnosis then, sometime next week.

This is all very exciting. I've never been at a hospital as a patient before. And the last time I was at the doctor was in 2002, to have one ear flushed..

[SlowwHand]

Being a patient at a hospital is way down the list of things to which I look forward.

[Wezil]

You should have gone with amputation.

It really is the only way to be sure. Now you're stuck hauling around a useless appendage in a sling.

[Winston]

Being a patient at a hospital is way down the list of things to which I look forward.

But all the great ones in history have done it!

Plus, apparently there's this thing about the health care system and gender. Yesterday, two doctors and one medicine student in succession ordered me out of my shirt and started manipulating my body, with great determination, sometimes two of them at once. Not one of them a male, not one above forty, all very um.. intelligent-looking.

I mean what's not to like? It's the most action I've seen in years. Plus it's only a shoulder. I've got two good legs and one good arm left.

And I hear they have nurses too! I honestly don't know what's kept me away for so long..

[Winston]

You should have gone with amputation.

It really is the only way to be sure. Now you're stuck hauling around a useless appendage in a sling.

It's a nice sling though.

And I feel like Napoleon when wearing a jacket over it.

I may have to look up a hat store.

[MRT144]

An unexpected thing happened this morning. My boss called and said that after consideration, he thought it best that I stayed on sick leave instead of switching over to forego my overtime as of next Monday, as had been planned for months.

Basically what this means is I get to keep my overtime for use at a later date, instead of letting it waste away trying to get my shoulder to heal.

That was a nice move I thought, even if it is possibly based in my employer getting some sort of refund for my pay, since it was a work-related accident.

Also, he was devasted to hear that I'd had to cancel my trip to the States. I almost had to comfort him to help him get over it..

Thank him with some sort of small gift.

[Japher]

That's a good boss.

[Winston]

Yes, that was a very nice way to involve himself, on a personal level also. And as I said, it was unexpected, since I'd been prepared to just go along with what we agreed on months ago about the overtime. He must've known this also.

MRT144,

About a small gift, I would want to, but I'm hesitant because it's really not the custom here. I will think about it some more, but at least what I'll do is I'll thank him in person when I go in to inform them after next week's scan.

Thanks for suggesting it.

[MOBIUS]

You should have gone with amputation.

Yeah, if he got his head cut off, he wouldn't feel the pain in his arm anymore...

It really is the only way to be sure. Now you're stuck hauling around a useless appendage in a sling.

Wezil, the sling isn't used for the head. Decapitation, it's the only solution!

[Wezil]

Now you're just being silly.

[MOBIUS]

Sorry, I just assumed when you said useless appendage, you meant Winston's head...

[Wezil]

When I typed it I presumed someone would infer a different body part.

[Winston]

I wish someone would dislocate that all caps Welsh guy.

Reading his attempts at humour is causing me more pain than the injury ever did.

[SlowwHand]

Do they have chiggers where you live? MOBIUS is like a chigger.

[Winston]

I got the notice for my preliminary orthopedic evaluation in the mail today. It's set for Tuesday 11 May. I had hoped it'd be earlier, but there we are.

It makes no mention of an MRI-scan, but then it makes no mention of any specifics of the evaluation, so I suppose it's still on, like the ER people indicated.

On the other hand, the notice talks at length about precautions etc. connected with surgery, which had not been brought up previously. There's also a questionnaire on my general health, medical history and other things I have to fill in. ("Is there an adult who can stay with you the night following the surgery?")

Hm, I have a feeling I'm headed straight to the slaughter.