Monthly Archives: August 2007

We work together, me and Maria. We’re kind of each others back-up person, so it’s really nice that we actually like each other. We even have a standing weekly lunch date where we discuss girly stuff and work things. I had told her about the acne problem I’ve been struggling with about a month ago. She said, “Oh, I had a really big under the skin zit that showed up in the same exact spot every month, so my gynecologist prescribed a gel to put on it. It never came back…”

Friday was our lunch date, we checked out from work, escaped walked out to the parking lot and got in her car. As she started her engine, I said, “Hey, you know that acne gel you recommended?”

“Yeah…”

“I finally got some from my doctor.”

“How do you like it?” She looked at me askance.

“I don’t know, I just got it last night.”

“Oh.” She backed out of the parking spot, “I need to get some more.”

“You do? You’ve only had it a couple months and, dude, that’s a big tube!”

“I know. But my fiance uses it. He puts it on his back, on his chest, on spots that may or may not be zits. He begs me to put it on spots that he can’t reach. I always tell him no!”

I start laughing and said, “He uses it like lotion?”

She nodded her head. We continued over the freeway to our lunch destination. All I could think was, “Cool, there really is someone weirder than me in this world…”

“Now, when did you say this happened?”

“Well, this one…” I held up my left ring finger, “… happened on June 12th in the swimming pool. I jammed it into the bottom of the pool in a turnabout.”

He nodded, “And the other one?”

“…happened on June 22nd, catching a football.”

His pen stopped writing notes and he looked at me over his spectacles, “June 12th and June 22nd?” I nodded. He continued, “I guess you’re not one to rush into anything, huh?”

It was Saturday, around 8:45 AM. I had been at my doctor’s office around 45 minutes at that point, waiting. Because they don’t take appointments for x-rays. That was the conversation my doctor and I had just prior to him taking x-rays of my ring fingers. Another half hour passed as I waited for the x-rays to develop. I heard shuffling feet and the doctor reappeared.

“Your left finger indicates a fracture occurred and has healed. What you’re noticing there is a bone callous, which is normal — but that’s why we normally prescribe a splint to be worn so that doesn’t happen. It may or may not dissolve, I just don’t know.”

“Your right finger also indicates a fracture occurred, but the fracture hasn’t healed and I’m not sure why that is.”

“It’s still fractured?” My voice trailed up at the end as I looked at the skinnier of my two ring fingers. “But it’s not swollen and it doesn’t really hurt.”

“Let me go check the x-rays, maybe I’m getting them mixed up.” Something told me he hadn’t, but nevertheless, he shuffled off to double-check. A couple minutes later, he shuffled back, “Yep, your right finger. It still shows a fracture.”

“Huh. But neither of them really hurt all that bad.” As if my failure to notice pain that was that bad would convince him that the x-rays were lying.

“That bad? Compared to what?” He asked.

“Compared to… oh.” Yeah, endometriosis? Or a kidney stone? Well, I don’t suppose there’s a whole lot that can be compared to that kind of pain. Perhaps I should lower my pain baseline a bit.

He sensed that I wasn’t going to finish my sentence and said, “I’m not sure why your bone isn’t fusing in your right finger. I’m not sure whether the bone callous will dissolve on your left finger. I’ll be writing up a referral to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in sports injuries. You should have that within the next week or so.”

An hour and a half later and that was that.

In other bone news, the results of my recent bone scan arrived a couple weeks ago:

My GYN said she wants to do another bone scan in two years, but for now… it looks like I’m good there. No osteopenia? Is that possible?