Doctor Visit

We were a little anxious going to bed last night wondering how Rich's leg would feel in the morning. It was surprisingly somewhat better. Not that he could take off walking, but he could stand up better and use it to balance himself a little. He had no pain unless he shifted his weight to that leg and put pressure on it.

With some help from me he got ready for the day just fine. The elders came to pick us up (it was so nice to have a chauffeur driving us around) and we spent a good day at the office. First thing I did was make the Book of Mormon order for this month. They have to be ordered each month by the 18th and time was getting close. By the time zone conferences are over, our supply is completely depleted. That was a good thing to get done and marked off my list. Then I filled the bins with the supplies ordered by the missionaries. Tomorrow is the last of the conferences in this area.

Elder Kroff did money related things and studied the new IMOS system on the computer. Sometimes he would forget about his leg, and start getting out of his chair, then quickly the reminder came. Ouch! Elder Nelson took him to the bank and to the post office which were much needed trips. They circled the block several times by the bank, but couldn't find a parking space closer than a block away.

Right after 9:00, Rich called Dr. Ottonella, the orthopedic doctor recommended by Sister Argyle. They had a 5:00 appointment. We were excited to get one today. We decided to take a remise to the appointment because Rich didn't feel like driving and we didn't know where it was.

It was a clinic that was in need of some repair and modernization. It kind of reminded us of the old Tooele Clinic on main street that we were so familiar with. We think the Tooele clinic was in better shape than this one, but this one seemed so outdated and behind the times for this day and age. The walls were a blue/green color, with some yellow stuck in between.

The doctor was really nice and seemed very competent. He was an older gentleman, but younger than us. We could tell he had plenty of experience with knees. He showed us some pictures of knee problems, and referred to it as "my friend, the knee". He spoke pretty good English. He had Rich lay down on a table and he proceeded to twist and turn his leg in all directions. One would think that it would have hurt so bad that Rich would come right off the table, but it didn't. Only one movement caused some pain. He then sent him to get an xray to see if there was any "foreign matter running around in there."

The xray took only minutes and we were again waiting to see the doctor. The bones looked good, but there was a little fluid building up in the area. After reading the xray, he told us that an MRI was necessary as he wanted to see the soft tissue. He thinks Rich has a torn miniscus. This is common in sports injuries. He said it doesn't repair itself well, and usually orthoscopic surgery is needed to mend the damaged area. He said it is an easy thing to fix. Oh dear, we didn't want to have any type of surgery in a foreign country. But he can't live on crutches for 14 more months. So tomorrow we will call about an MRI. The doctor said that they do them around the clock because there are so many people that need them. We could get an appointment at 10:00 at night or even 1:00 in the morning. Neither sounds very good to me.

The desk called us a remise to get back home, and a fancy black car came with the driver wearing a tie. Some companies are upscale and some not so hot. It only cost 16 pesos coming to the appointment in a somewhat clunker of a car, and it cost 29 pesos to go back in the "limousine." Anyway, it was worth it not to drive.

We got home at 7:30 and had french toast for dinner.