Radiologist
As I was walking around in my living room one day, my foot got caught on something and I fell. I fell in such a way that all my weight landed on one knee. Immediately after I fell, the pain was so excruciating that I was convinced I had broken a bone. I was still able to walk around, so I got up and went to work. The pain continued to get worse and worse to the point where I could hardly walk. I made an appointment with my doctor and rented myself a cane (yes, a cane!) from the local medical supply store. My doctor poked and prodded my knee and told me that he thinks I may have torn my meniscus (cartilidge). He said that this type of a tear would not show on a regular x-ray, but he was going to send me to get one anyway so that he could completely rule out a cracked or broken bone.
I got to the x-ray clinic precisely at 8.30am, right when it was set to open. As I walk into the waiting area, I notice that most of the chairs are already occupied! When I was checking myself in, I asked the lady at the front what time they opened.
"Oh, we open at 8.30 but we usually open the doors about 5/10 minutes early to let everyone in and get them seated."
Since I had never been to an x-ray clinic, I didn't know this neat little tidbit. These people obviously came in on a regular basis to know that the clinic opens their doors earlier.
The lady finished getting all my information and told me to have a seat. I take a chair in a corner by the magazine table, the chair beside me is empty. I start to wait.
About 10 minutes into the waiting, a man comes and sits beside me. He smells like he had a full pack of cigarettes just seconds before he came in (no offense to any smokers out there, but some smokers smell like an ashtray), and he breathes very very loudly, almost like it's difficult for him to breathe. I'm stuck. If I get up to move to another chair, it'll seem really rude. So I try very hard to focus on the magazine I'm looking at and hope that I get called in soon. My morning is turning out to be fabulous.
My reprieve comes about 20 (long) minutes later. A short lady in her mid-fifties comes bouncing out of the back and calls my name. I am so grateful to be out of the waiting room. I follow her into the back where she takes me to one of the tiniest changing rooms I've ever seen.
"Hmmm. I wonder if we need you to change into a robe," she says as she looks down at my pant leg. "Say, can you pull up your pant leg to above your knee?"
My pants were loose enough that I was able to pull it over my knee.
"Oh good, you won't need to change then. I can take you into the x-ray room just like that."
As she says this, she takes a step back. She didn't realize that a corner of a cabinet was right behind her so when she stepped back, her head hit the corner of the cabinet. I heard a big crack when her head met the corner and she crumpled to the ground. Let me re-emphasize...she did not fall to the ground, she actually crumpled to the ground.
So here I was with a sore knee and a radiologist on the ground. I couldn't bend over to see if she was ok, so I kept saying, "On my goodness, are you ok?" and all I got in response was some moaning. About five seconds later, another one of her colleagues comes running up to us.
"What happened?!" He looks at me.
"She took a step back and her head hit the corner and she fell!"
He looks from me to her and back again. He points at me, "You! Sit!"
I immediately sit down like a scolded child. He leans over to her, helps her up and slowly walks her over to somewhere. She was holding her head the whole way. Even though it wasn't my fault, I feel like I'm in trouble. I was left alone, sitting in the smallest change room ever and I had no idea whether my radiologist was coming back or not.
Ten (long) minutes later, the man that had taken her away comes back again.
"Are you here to get your left knee x-rayed?"
I nod my head.
"Ok, come with me."
"Umm. How is she?"
"She'll be fine."
"Oh good."
My x-ray came back normal. There's nothing wrong with my bones. It's been two months since I fell, and my knee is still sore. I'm waiting to see an orthopaedic surgeon to determine whether or not I'll need surgery on my knee. My doctor seems to think I might because my knee hasn't stopped hurting. When people ask me why I'm limping, I tell them I fell. They then ask me how I fell and I tell them I was just walking around in my living room. Why couldn't it have been more exciting like skiing or snowboarding? Now that would've been a much better story to tell...
I got to the x-ray clinic precisely at 8.30am, right when it was set to open. As I walk into the waiting area, I notice that most of the chairs are already occupied! When I was checking myself in, I asked the lady at the front what time they opened.
"Oh, we open at 8.30 but we usually open the doors about 5/10 minutes early to let everyone in and get them seated."
Since I had never been to an x-ray clinic, I didn't know this neat little tidbit. These people obviously came in on a regular basis to know that the clinic opens their doors earlier.
The lady finished getting all my information and told me to have a seat. I take a chair in a corner by the magazine table, the chair beside me is empty. I start to wait.
About 10 minutes into the waiting, a man comes and sits beside me. He smells like he had a full pack of cigarettes just seconds before he came in (no offense to any smokers out there, but some smokers smell like an ashtray), and he breathes very very loudly, almost like it's difficult for him to breathe. I'm stuck. If I get up to move to another chair, it'll seem really rude. So I try very hard to focus on the magazine I'm looking at and hope that I get called in soon. My morning is turning out to be fabulous.
My reprieve comes about 20 (long) minutes later. A short lady in her mid-fifties comes bouncing out of the back and calls my name. I am so grateful to be out of the waiting room. I follow her into the back where she takes me to one of the tiniest changing rooms I've ever seen.
"Hmmm. I wonder if we need you to change into a robe," she says as she looks down at my pant leg. "Say, can you pull up your pant leg to above your knee?"
My pants were loose enough that I was able to pull it over my knee.
"Oh good, you won't need to change then. I can take you into the x-ray room just like that."
As she says this, she takes a step back. She didn't realize that a corner of a cabinet was right behind her so when she stepped back, her head hit the corner of the cabinet. I heard a big crack when her head met the corner and she crumpled to the ground. Let me re-emphasize...she did not fall to the ground, she actually crumpled to the ground.
So here I was with a sore knee and a radiologist on the ground. I couldn't bend over to see if she was ok, so I kept saying, "On my goodness, are you ok?" and all I got in response was some moaning. About five seconds later, another one of her colleagues comes running up to us.
"What happened?!" He looks at me.
"She took a step back and her head hit the corner and she fell!"
He looks from me to her and back again. He points at me, "You! Sit!"
I immediately sit down like a scolded child. He leans over to her, helps her up and slowly walks her over to somewhere. She was holding her head the whole way. Even though it wasn't my fault, I feel like I'm in trouble. I was left alone, sitting in the smallest change room ever and I had no idea whether my radiologist was coming back or not.
Ten (long) minutes later, the man that had taken her away comes back again.
"Are you here to get your left knee x-rayed?"
I nod my head.
"Ok, come with me."
"Umm. How is she?"
"She'll be fine."
"Oh good."
My x-ray came back normal. There's nothing wrong with my bones. It's been two months since I fell, and my knee is still sore. I'm waiting to see an orthopaedic surgeon to determine whether or not I'll need surgery on my knee. My doctor seems to think I might because my knee hasn't stopped hurting. When people ask me why I'm limping, I tell them I fell. They then ask me how I fell and I tell them I was just walking around in my living room. Why couldn't it have been more exciting like skiing or snowboarding? Now that would've been a much better story to tell...
posted by Elle at 8:27 p.m.
2 Comments:
SPAKK!! right in the head lol poor old women id most likely laugh my ass off to that even if is means its just to funny!
that's damn funny!
you should say that you had a rough night on the kitchen table....teehee.
(what more can you expect of me to say, honestly?)
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