"Hop-Along" Troxel

Last year on my way back from Bremerton, Washington to Washington D.C. I sprained my ankle in a terrible way. It was the night before my flight after the Thanks Giving holiday and I was rushed to the emergency room where they did some X-rays and gave me some happy pills and crutches, then sent me hobbling home.

Course, everybody and their sister's boyfriend told me how it would take forever to get back to normal after a severe sprain, so when it took forever I more or less accepted it as to-be-expected, in light of this wealth of common knowledge.

And I waited.

And waited.

Well, call me a ungrateful, but sure enough I got tired of waiting and went back to the doctor to see about physical therapy to help me walk correctly and to ease the pain when I try to exercise. Now I always grew up thinking that all decent God-fearing men should fear a Military doctor, but pain is pain and that's a pretty good motivation. Come to find out, though, the military hospital actually has a lot going for it, like not being an HMO. Or even a PPO. In fact, not being an HMO or PPO is a pretty amazing benefit because the doctors are more than happy to order up as many tests or procedures as come to mind, give out as many applicable drugs as reasonably needed, and are more than happy to let you hang out in your hospital room an extra day without any pressure what-so-ever to free up a bed to earn the hospital a bonus.

So where I thought I would get a poke, a prod, and a push out the door, I instead received a consult, an X-ray, and a call back. Yes, feel free to read that again; I actually had a real life doctor call me to talk to me about the results.

Of course, this special treatment could have been because--come to find out--I have a broken ankle from that sprain so long ago, which wasn't identified by Group Health (least way's they never called me back), and this fracture never received enough blood to properly heal and resulted in portions of the bone dying. So now I have to get an MRI and a consult from an orthopedic surgeon.

Welp, that's my story; if you happen to see me hopping by, now you know why.