My knee has been acting up lately.  I talked with my doctor about it at my semi-annual check up in June, and he offered to get me started on the referrals with the orthopedist and maybe getting an MRI to see what’s happening in there.  I told him I didn’t think we were ready for that yet, and decided to wait.

I have a couple of things happening on my right side that I think are working together to make me uncomfortable.  I suspected, and confirmed with X-Rays in June, that I broke a bone in my foot either late last fall or in February.  I suspect I broke it last fall and aggravated it in February.  At this point, it doesn’t matter when, but there’s a definite crack in the bone on the X-ray (right where I’m feeling pain).  When I saw the podiatrist in July, it wasn’t bothering me much, but he told me these breaks can be tough to get healed, and if it bothered me some more to contact him, and we’d talk about getting a bone growth stimulator.  I have an appointment for the 30th to talk about this.

My knee is still bothering me, and a couple of weeks ago, my calf began to ache.  I suspect this is related to some sympathetic pain generated by compensating for foot and knee problems.  To test my theory, I asked to borrow hubby’s crutches (he hasn’t needed them in years) to use them to relieve stress on the right leg.  As I suspected, using the crutches resulted in the calf ache disappearing.  It didn’t do a lot for the foot or the knee, but it didn’t seem to hurt either.

I debated the benefits of getting the foot taken care of and seeing if that took some stress off the knee.  I’m not convinced surgery would be the best or even most advisable solution, but I’m not sure what else an orthopedist would recommend.  Then, yesterday, I did a mild hyper-extension of the knee while mowing the lawn.  That hurt.  It felt like I may have done some damage — kind of like a sprain but still no real swelling — maybe a little above the knee, but there is more pain in more places than usual around the knee.

So, today, while I was in Temple anyway for some other appointments, I stopped at my doctor’s front desk in the clinic to find out what we needed to do to get a referral.  This is where things got interesting.

The tech at the desk appeared to pull up my record and read some stuff.  She asked if I had osteoarthritis.  I do.  She asked, “Why don’t I get you a referral to the rheumatologist.” (She works the internal medicine (my doctor), rheumatology, and urology desk.)  I pondered this and asked, “Rheumatology?  I thought we were talking orthopedics?  What does a rheumotologist do?”

She said, “They can give injections and things. I’ll check with the nurse, and see what she says.”

I said, “Okay,” and sat down while she took some paper off the printer and stepped into the back.  A very short time later she returned and said, “The nurse says she’ll do a referral, and we can schedule it today.  The rheumatologist is in the same hallway as your doctor.”  So, I’m set up for Wednesday.

I  pondered this idea, came home, and did some research.  I’m thinking I should have seen a rheumatologist some time ago.  There are a whole host of chronic illnesses a rheumatologist works with the patient and her medical team to manage, and I have several of them (osteoarthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome are two).  I’m looking forward to this visit to see what I’ll learn.