So, last week I was hired to photograph a reception at a local outdoor venue and as is my custom, I arrived early to photograph the place settings, decorations, and any other interesting item that might be messed up by the guests. Also, it documents the items for the hosts so that they know what they paid for, as often they are busy greeting guests and can’t see all the items and decorations which are at their event.
As I approached a standup table and looked it over to get a good angle and coverage, a laborer walked past me to another standup table and dropped onto the ground a heavy metal umbrella stand with a discernible thud! I looked at him and thought, “next one he brings, I’m going to photo him…” not for the party but for my portfolio!
I continued to look over the flower arrangement and made a couple of snaps then decided to move around the table to my left for a different angle. As I quickly moved around the table, I was suddenly met with a smashing pain in my left lower leg. I could only see stars, as I stumbled a bit.
I quickly recovered and looked down at my pant leg which seemed normal: no tear! Then I felt my leg, on fire with pain, but no open wound was noted. I looked around to find out what was the cause of this incident and there it was: an umbrella stand (without the umbrella). The heavy metal base with the pipe sticking up about 2 feet was there for me to stumble into. I continued to soldier on and finished the assignment feeling the burn.
Over the course of the next couple days, the pain was really noticeable, the leg swelled, and the ankle turned black and blue as the blood from internal trauma collected at the lowest part of the leg. I resisted a doctor’s visit as knocking a shin wasn’t something I hadn’t experienced in the past.
After putting it off for several days, I decided that I would make my way to a “Doc-in-the-Box” which I had used in the past, since they had an X-ray machine: it would save me money and time, rather than going to the ER room at the hospital.
I arrived the next morning, second patient of the day to have the leg looked at. That was a whole crazy experience: the lady attending to me whispered that it was her 3rd day, and she was unfamiliar as to where everything was. Anyway, the doctor checked me and told me that shin injuries are routine, but he would take an X-ray.
While waiting for the results – did I mention what a fiasco that was – I heard the doctor say, “Oh, oh…” I peaked out of the room down the hall and watched him look at the film. He turned and said, “I think you have a broken leg…” He requested more images and decided that he could see a fracture in my tibia. He told me to stay off the leg until the weekend was over and he was referring me to an orthopedic doctor (I had one from all my mountain bike crashes!). After going through crutches at the office to figure out a set for me – did I mention what a fiasco that was -- I was charged $50 bucks as “insurance won’t pay.”
Later in the afternoon, the doctor called and stated that the radiologist had confirmed that the Xray showed a fracture of the mid-tibia shaft.
Monday morning as the orthopedic office opened, I called the receptionist: she had an opening an hour later. The lady asked me to bring the x-rays and the report. Of course, I didn’t have one as they told me that they don’t provide a disc, but the doctor’s office could get a link to the radiologist. The receptionist said, no she couldn’t do it. So, I had to get a link, print out the report, print the x-ray images and race to the new appointment. I hobbled into the car and drove myself to the office.
Finally, the nurse looked at the leg, took vitals, and worked with me to figure out a link to view the x-rays. After a bit, the Orthopedic doc, who knows me well, came in, sat down, and looked at me. “Yes,” I thought. Finally, he shook his head… that wasn’t a reassuring sign. It turns out it was a moment of disgust, not of sympathy: “You don’t have a broken leg… there is nothing wrong with your tibia,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.
Come in here, look… oh, you don’t need your crutches he told me as he walked over to the viewing screen. He showed me that there was no break in the cortical bone tissue. However, he noted that I had an old fracture which had a significant calcium buildup which may have been misread as a piece of bone.
“You remember this fracture, right?” Well, no I don’t. I broke an ankle or two but never a tibia, fibula, or femur that I was aware. But there it was on the x-ray; it went untreated in the past.
So, the upshot is: I walked in a cripple and walked out healed (on paper). The shin still hurts, the leg is swollen, and the radiologist misread the X-ray. I own a brand new paid of crutches, slightly used.
Good thing I waited to cancel my east coast trip for next
week till after seeing the Ortho! Now to get over the pain.
