Last July, I fainted and badly injured my ankle. Being a guy, I wrongly decided against visiting my GP and let nature take its course.
After a few days, with my ankle swollen to the size of a tennis ball and so badly and colourfully bruised it was like looking at a magic eye picture, viewed through a kaleidoscope, I visited the triage people at the local hospital.
After a physical examination, the lady said there was probably some soft tissue damage but “absolutely nothing to worry about.” Given the pain I was in, I was a bit surprised that she decided against an x-ray. Even allowing for NHS cutbacks, I thought it was at least worth taking a Polaroid of it and sending that to my GP or an art gallery.
Days later, with the bruising subsiding but the swelling still there, I saw my GP and he recommended an x-ray. After the x-ray, the radiographer said she’d send the results to the GP, so I was comforted by that.
Imagine my surprise then when he said I had fractured my ankle. Surely, the radiographer should have told me that and not just let me limp unaided away from the hospital and carry on doing my normal errands for a few days and potentially causing more damage?
Would she have told someone who had fractured their leg in 3 places that she’d send the results to their GP without telling them the severity of their injuries? What is the protocol here?
Two weeks later, I was sent for an ankle ultrasound where the practitioner weirdly seemed totally uninterested into how the injury had occurred and only scanned the injured area after I told her she’d been scanning the wrong part of the foot.
Last week, 4 months after the injury occurred, I was finally x-rayed at the fracture clinic and told my ankle had finally healed – but weirdly, both the physical and mental pain remain.
Categories:Health
Russ Writes 
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