rootofnewt | an answer?!?

yesterday, i woke up and showered quickly. then i settled down to make a few phone calls before i left to pick up

ashbet for the day. first, i called the orthopoedic surgeon's office, to see whether my appointment was at 1 or 1:30. i wrote down 1 in my appointment book, but i didn't remember if that was appointment time or the "show up half an hour early" time. it was the latter. they also said they hadn't received the referral i requested my PCP send back in november. i thanked the lady and called my neurologist's office, to see if *that* referral had been received. the nice lady at the desk said she'd go check the fax machine and call me right back.

after 10 minutes of no call, i decided to call my PCP's office because i needed to get on the road ASAP.

i was rather infuriated when the desk receptionist said "well, why didn't you check to make sure we'd sent that referral if you requested it so long ago?"

i really wanted to say a few things, but kept my tongue in check. I'll save those things for the letter i send to the office manager, in which i offer my services to do just that, for a fee. oh, wait, that is the manager's job. oops. i also re-requested they send the neuro referral.

she reminded me that referrals take two weeks. i reminded her that yesterday was a special exception and that the ortho's referral was requested over a *month* ago. she shut up and promised to send them by noon and one, respectively.

so i go to pick up ashbet... right before i turned into her neighborhood, a half dozen deer bounded across the road in front of me. this helped my mood somewhat. she and i vented about evil doctor's offices after i picked her up.

we headed into DC. i dropped off the Klonopin 'script and we decided to eat lebanese for lunch. i took her to my favorite little hole in the wall (

wrdgrrl and

jkatj, it's changed owners within the family and is now very pink inside, but the food is still yummy). i had a lovely bowl of crushed lentil soup and a pressed halloum sandwich. ashbet enjoyed spinach fatayeh and a beef sandwich of some sort. we also drank up our homemade lemonade. yummy.

then we headed to the hospital. i think ashbet was suitably impressed (or perhaps disturbed) by the labrynthine passages we took. i checked in with out-patient registration (the wrong one, it turns out, but they took me anyway, because the *other* one is full of perfume constantly since the staff there reek). turns out my referral had NOT been received just yet. it's after one, so the nice lady at check-in lets me call my doctor's office. the desk clerk promises to fax it right away, but i have to get to my appointment, so i sign a financial responsibility form (this sucks. *i* should not be responsible when i did all i could to get my referral there in time), and am on my way.

ashbet and i head upstairs to the limb center, where i fill out yet another pain/medical history form. you'd think that i could just have one monster file within the hospital and all the doctors would have access to it. on the other hand, the ortho surgeon won't be privy to comments another doctor might've made about how i'm a freakin' hypochondriac. some people don't understand fibromyalgia.

i waited half an hour and was finally called. after reminding the nurse to fetch my x-ray films from the hospital library, i then sat in the examining room for twenty minutes or so. i nearly fell asleep.

finally, the doctor walks in, followed by a flock of bleary-eyed residents who were gazing at him as though he had a brilliant halo shimmering about him... he looked at the history form, said my x-rays were normal (of course), then palpated my foot as i described my pain.

then he said it...

"yeah, just as i suspected. your second bone is too long. here's a prescription for orthotics," he quickly dictates to a nurse what to write down on the pedorthic 'script form, "and make sure you do these stretches." he hands me a form. he also told me he understood that the reason my achille's was so tight is that i haven't been able to do any weight bearing exercise or stretches and that, at the moment, i won't be able to do much until i have the orthotics.

because i haven't been able to manage the fibro well (no exercise), i've entered a minor cfids slump... so i won't be able to do any major walking until the orthotics and stretching have taken their hold (a month to three, i think)...

and then the doc was gone. he was there all of five minutes. and that's being generous.

he gave me an answer.

at least three years of pain, the last several months of which have been highly distressing. and my PCP kept brushing me off. i could've had this taken care of long ago.

ashbet was hoping the remedy was shaving off the bone a bit, giving someone a nice toeknuckle pendant.

so i have a long second metatarsal... i wonder if that's why my second toe is so long. it connects, right?

wow. i have an answer to some of my foot problems--the overwhelming pain, at least. and the neuro has decided i *do* have CTS, so i'll have good splints, for once.

this doesn't all address the tingling in my toes, but maybe the Johns Hopkins stuff will, if i can get it done. if not, i'll live.

i want a big sign now that says "SEE?!? It's NOT all in my head. There are MECHANICAL and PHYSIOLOGICAL issues at work here."

wow.