Yet Another Twist">Yet Another Twist

From my visit wit Dr. Wilson, on February 18, to my visit with Dr. Erpelding, on March 4, I struggled with excepting five to eight more surgeries on my leg. My life was upside down, and I struggled to find a way to both live with surgery and make money. Since Dr. Erpelding is my current Doctor, I had to talk to him.

I was hoping for a different diagnosis, and fearing a confirmation of Dr. Wilson’s diagnosis. What I got was the former, but with a twist. Dr. Wilson said that the lower break showed signs of bone growth, but the upper break did not. The upper break’s lack of healing was the reason that I had so much hip pain.

Upper Break

The appointment with Dr.Erpelding was late in the afternoon, and there was no time for new X-rays. Based on the X-rays from January, he said there was signs of bone growth on both breaks. The reason for the pain is that the pin that goes into the hip joint extends beyond the bone. This is clearly visibile in the X-ray on the left. The pin should never extend beyond the bone, as they come in every possible length. According to Dr. Erpelding, Dr. Wilson should have put in a different pin, when he saw that this one was too long. To make matters worse, there is a ligament that runs right on the edge of the pin, which is why I have pain when I bend my leg. No bone graft needed, as the blurry stuff around the bone is new bone growth. However, Dr. Erpelding want to see the X-rays taken on my last visit to Dr. Wilson. He couldn’t access those X-rays from the VA clinic, so he said he would call me on Friday or Monday. In the meantime, he scheduled an appointment in two weeks, as Dr. Wilson’s e-mail, which I read, implied that bone grafting was critical.

Dr. Wilson called me at 6:50 am Friday morning. He had looked at all the X-rays from the original surgery to the latest X-ray. In his opinion, I the bone was trying to heal. I was to go back on the walker for two weeks, and see him again in four weeks. He felt that bone grafting could impede natural healing. In addition, there would be another six weeks of recovery after the surgery. I will still have to undergo another surgery to remove the rod, once the bone heals, all because of the pin being too long.

Thursday evening, Dr. Wilson’s office left a message that we needed to discuss the bill. They still feel that I don’t qualify for a reduction in fee. Full fee for shoddy work.