SO glad the holidays are almost over with...

[Logan Darklighter]

Oh the joys of the Holidays. Stress, Parent induced guilt trips, traffic. Crazy drivers. Being forced to BE a crazy driver to get my damn shopping done in time. ("DUELING INSURANCE RATES BUDDY! See the DENTS in this car? Compared to your nice pristine LEXUS I've got NOTHING TO LOSE, SO BACK OFF THE LANE ASSHOLE!!!" ... ahem...)
Why it's enough that despite the fact that I actually LIKE snow, I'm MORE than ready for the Holidays to be OVER ALREADY. (No they're NOT over until after the last drunk has crashed his last car after New Years!)
It says a lot about my level of overall stress that I was nodding along to this song in imaginary bliss...

[Dragonflight]

Heh. I can probably match that. For the last week, I've had gout in my right ankle. It's a build-up of uric acid crystals in the tendons and ankle joint, which causes continuous pain, like someone's jammed a knife into your leg, and just left it there. The Naproxen they prescribed for me didn't work. Some people have issues with it. It causes their kidneys to temporarily stop eliminating excess uric acid, which means if you do the math, even though it relaxes the muscles, the problem isn't going away. So when you get off the stuff, you're right back where you started. And guess what? I'm one of those people.
So, five very long days after this started, I travel to the hospital, and they prescribe Colchicine. It's not a fancy drug or anything. A couple hours after taking it, the pain just sort of fades away. Now I just have to deal with the recovery period. Everything south of the knee hurts if I so much as twitch it. But at least it only hurts if I move it, and not even when I'm being motionless. I can live with this. Besides, they also prescribed Perkocets for the pain, so I should be good for a while there, too.
But, yeah. I'll be very glad when this is all behind me. Not the best holiday I've ever had...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[Dragonflight]

So the hospital appears to have been right on the money. It's gout, and the colchicine broke that cycle.
Unfortunately...
The x-ray department wrenched my foot one side and the other taking pictures of the ankle to check for breakages. In the process, they inflicted a bad sprain on my knee. So basically no sooner does the pain in my ankle finally fade away, but my knee is in screaming agony, and I can't move. Icing and elevating the knee finally brought the swelling down last night, and I got a decent night's sleep for the first time in a week. The ankle plus the new knee injury probably totals several months of healing and rehabilitation in order to get walking ability back.
Sometimes the universe hates me more than others. This holiday appears to be one of those times...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[Black Aeronaut]

DRAG0NFLIGHT wrote:

---

The x-ray department wrenched my foot one side and the other taking pictures of the ankle to check for breakages. In the process, they inflicted a bad sprain on my knee.

My God!  What were those lunatics thinking!?

[robkelk]

So the hospital appears to have been right on the money. It's gout, and the colchicine broke that cycle.

Unfortunately...

The x-ray department wrenched my foot one side and the other taking pictures of the ankle to check for breakages. In the process, they inflicted a bad sprain on my knee. So basically no sooner does the pain in my ankle finally fade away, but my knee is in screaming agony, and I can't move. Icing and elevating the knee finally brought the swelling down last night, and I got a decent night's sleep for the first time in a week. The ankle plus the new knee injury probably totals several months of healing and rehabilitation in order to get walking ability back.

Sometimes the universe hates me more than others. This holiday appears to be one of those times...

Why do I have a suspicion as to which hospital it was. (Note lack of question mark.)

Are you home now?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Logan Darklighter]

Wow... crap dude. I think that definitely sucks more than my holidays! 
My sympathies and here's hoping you recover fast! 

[Bob Schroeck]

Holy cow. Here's hoping for a quicker recovery than you're anticipating. Can you at least sue to recover some of your costs?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Dragonflight]

Not likely. I'd need some kind of crippling or seriously debilitating injury. What I've got would be considered effectively identical to a football player spraining their knee. Bad for a couple of months, life goes on after that. Also, there may be some kind of caveat in medical cases where a certain amount of physical injury received in the act of providing medical care is indemnified. So all in all, I'm not sure. Given that I've already got minimal ongoing pain, and can at least semi-stand on it (but can't move yet,) I suspect any lawyer would say it's not worth the money. Just don't do business with them again.
Oh, and Rob? Yep, I'm home. It was the Q-C.
Edit: Also, don't forget the state-sponsored medical coverage here. OHIP covers about 95% of non-elective medical issues. The whole visit didn't cost me a dime. It was covered from taxes. Just show up, get help, go home.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[Black Aeronaut]

Even so... If it were me, then I wouldn't be able to work for several weeks... and that is damn-near fatal when you're living hand-to-mouth and have no outside help to turn to like me.