Friday, September 10, 2010

First Doctor Visit

So, worried about my knee I made an appointment to see an orthopedic specialist. I didn't bother to see my regular doctor as I knew he would just refer me to a specialist. In any case my insurance does not require the referral so I figured this way would be much quicker.

I have to say that getting an appointment at short notice was extremely difficult. The only advice I can give you is to call the bigger practices and see if you can be squeezed in or go on a waiting list. In the end I went to the Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC, and I can highly recommend them and also thank them for seeing me so promptly!

More important though, is to check with your insurance companies to get a list of eligible specialists. What you don't want in addition to your knee injury is a great big bill from the hospital that your insurance company won't cover!

So I went to see the doctor who requested several x-rays be taken of my knee in different positions. Not a lot of fun if you can barely walk, let alone stand still with bended knees in front of an x-ray machine! They did give me lead padding to shield my crown jewels which was thoughtful.

The doctor pushed and pulled both my knees in several directions and compare the two. He seemed quite happy with everything and was surprised at how little swelling there was in the knee which I took as a good sign. As far as the bones went everything was OK, however ligaments and tendons don't show up on an x-ray (they don't contain calcium) so I have an MRI scheduled for next week.

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