Medical update

I visited Dr. Anton Y. Plakseychuk today to get a second opinion on my left tibia. Dr. Peter Siska had previously stated that the recommended course of action was major surgery: replace the current metal rod in my tibia with a thicker metal rod, cutting in through my knee, risking further damage, and having an 80% overall chance of success. I didn't like his recommendation, so I sought out a second opinion - hence Dr. Plakseychuk.

For anyone unfamiliar with my tibia, here's an early radiograph:

Dr.'s analysis: He asked me if the broken area hurt, and put pressure on my leg, as if trying to break my tibia apart, and asked me if it hurt. It didn't, except for a slight tingling when he touched the right side of it.

Dr's recommendation: Keep metal rod in there, take out the screws near the ankle, keep the one nearest to the knee. Prognosis: the metal rod will, with the freedom allowed by the absence of screws, penetrate 1-4mm further into the bone, effectively shortening my leg length by that amount, and tightening up the space between the pieces of my tibia. Dr. says that might/should help stimulate bone growth further. So that's good.

Possible drawbacks:

• Slight shortening of my left leg, but Dr. claims it would be imperceptible to me. I'm slightly off-put by a Big Bang Theory dialogue from its very first episode:

Sheldon: Are you still mad about the sperm bank?

Leonard: No.

Sheldon: You want to hear an interesting thing about stairs?

Leonard: Not really.

Sheldon: If the height of a single step is off by as little as two millimeters, most people will trip.

Leonard: I don't care.... (voice rising then lowering) Two millime--that doesn't seem right.

Sheldon: No, it's true. I did a series of experiments when I was twelve. My father broke his clavicle.

Leonard: Is that why they sent you to boarding school?

Sheldon: No ... that was the result of my work with lasers.

, but I give a bit more credit to the Dr. than to Sheldon on medical matters.

• Possible rotational instability in the lower portion of my tibia around the rod. But he says that the obliqueness of the fracture would most likely prevent that from happening.
• Tiny possibility that the metal rod would, in fact, end up breaking. But if the bone growth is to be stimulated through the eventual joining of the pieces, that possibility is diminished further.

My decision

Heck I'm following HIS recommendation! I'm taking the screws out on the morning of October 4th, and I'll be walking out of there that same day, probably to get lunch and then to classes. I have a pre-op appointment with my (new) PCP (not the drug) on Sept 20th, who will be my new one because my old one moved to Maryland, I believe. I just found that out today. Then the stitches come off on October 14th. Easy peasy :). If all goes well, I should be much finer and dandier in one month!

Speaking of stitches, I got my head staples removed while I was at the doctor's!! I like this doctor :) He's not super strict on regulations, but rather seems to work by CMU's RPP (Reasonable Person's Principle). Though I doubt he's heard of it. Maybe he has, I dunno.