Gout You Say?

It’s been more than a few days since my last post and I blame it on a surgery and my “keystone cops” recovery. I had an elective surgery to insert a double stint to prevent further expansion of an aortic aneurism. The surgery went well and I left the hospital the next day. Recovery was complicated by some irritation from a catheter into my bladder and I was up several times each night trying to urinate.

During one of those nights I was disoriented and fell against a wall. My left ankle became very swollen and very painful. I was at the hospital emergency last Saturday. After six hours of waiting for x-rays, consultation by two doctors, and delays on just about everything, they decided there was no break, but they didn’t know anything beyond that.

The swelling and pain level indicated it was worse than a sprain. Gout is a possibility. Now, for this history nut, I thought gout was something people got in the 1700s. I believe Gen. Nathaniel Green had it. I assumed gout was some kind of generic term for some things we now call by different names. Not so. Gout is still real and has something to do with crystals forming on a joint. The doctors discussed another possibility but the pain medication,Percocet, fog prevented me from understanding all of what was going on.

I have a follow up orthopedic appointment today so maybe I’ll know more later. And, as modern medicine goes, I might not learn anything. Meanwhile small wars continue, Pakistan becomes more dangerous, the Democrats are confused, the Republicans are confused, neither party is so confused as to entertain bipartisanship, and Bush is staying the course but hasn’t noticed that the compass needle disappeared several years ago.