When doctors disagree…

When doctors disagree with each other about a medical condition concerning you, it’s quite disconcerting. One doctor says one thing and another doctor says something else, whereas a third doctor will say something completely different. What am I, the patient, supposed to think about this? I happen to be fairly highly trained in medicine and I can read an x-ray. I saw the x-ray of my wrist — of my scaphoid bone in my left wrist — and it certainly looks fractured to me. They sent the digital image to a radiologist at Fort Harrison to confirm the fracture, and I have not heard anything from that radiologist. I did receive a letter today from my primary care provider saying that my x-ray looks essentially normal. It doesn’t feel normal, trust me. I am in a brace that immobilizes both my wrist and abducted thumb, which makes my entire lower arm feel better with less pain and inflammation. When the brace is taken off, my wrists swells directly over my scaphoid bone. Needless to say, this is very painful and I cannot move my thumb without causing even more pain. I’d say there’s something wrong here! I’m going with my gut, and my gut says that I need to keep this brace on until that fractured scaphoid heals. The doctors can say what they’d like to and that is fine with me. Ultimately, I am in control of my own health care when it comes to who I’m going to believe and what I’m going to do about it. I’m erring on the side of caution because I don’t want to jeopardize my climbing future. If that scaphoid bone is indeed fractured, then it needs to heal correctly for me to enjoy climbing to its fullest for the rest of my life. I’m dead serious about that. Climbing to save my life is what it comes down to. I intend to live a very long time.