Raving Genius

On Thursday, May 15 after work, I noticed that my left ankle was starting to swell up. At the time it wasn’t much, so I didn’t think much of it. It really started getting my attention on Friday. When I got home from work, it was so painful I was having trouble walking on it. I went to the only doctor I could find that wasn’t at an emergency room, which turned out to be NextCare on Kildaire Farm Rd. I do not like this place, and I hope nobody else goes there for treatment ever.

First of all the assistant who took my blood sample did not open the safety cover on the needle in front of me. In fact I never saw or heard the safety cover in the disposal. Come to think of it, I never noticed a biohazard needle disposal box. At any rate I trusted that she had picked up a fresh needle just for me. She told me that she drew blood all the time at the hospital. After my blood was taken, my elbow started to swell. I asked the lab assistant who did my x-rays if the swelling was normal, and she said it happens sometimes. Well it has never happened to me! The next day my elbow was purple, so on my way to work Monday, I stopped by to ask about it. They told me again that this was normal and everything was fine. Whatever. It is a week later, and my elbow is still dark purple. Everybody else who has seen it has been appalled.

Back to my ankle, the doctor at NextCare told me he thought I had gout. He told me about it and gave me some medicine for the pain and swelling. The pain medicine worked well enough, but it left me so tired that I couldn’t function. I tried going into work on Monday, but one of my supervisors drove me home. The next day I was at my regular doctor’s office. He thought my ankle might be infected, but he didn’t rule out gout. Then he gave me even more medicine. The pain and redness got worse until Thursday, when it started turning around.

I went back to my doctor on Thursday, and now thinks my ankle was just infected. How that happened is beyond me! But I am glad for it not to be gout, as there is no cure for it. He also told me to go to the emergency room if anything got worse at all. Thankfully that hasn’t happened. I can even walk without crutches. My ankle is still sore and the swelling hasn’t yet fully subsided, but it is so much better than before.

I have attached pictures for those that wish to see, but I have to warn you; they are quite grotesque. You can get a really close-up if you want.

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