This past winter, annoyances that were not cancer-related crept up on me. One was my aching left knee, the result I believed of too-strenuous snow shoveling after a particularly heavy snowfall in February. The other was a crooked ring finger on my left hand, making some activities painful. I had postponed investigating these issues, mostly to focus on my cancer treatment, but also with the vague hope that it would just 'go away'. But the pain persisted through the winter, and with no imminent cancer issues in my immediate future, I decided to get it checked out. At first my family doctor thought I might have fractured my finger at some point. An X-ray of my left hand was not conclusive, the worry that there was some sort of infection due to arthritis was suspected. A bone scan would be my next procedure.
Two years ago I complained of a sore back and vague, nagging aches, which led to my first-ever bone scan . The initial diagnosis was early onset arthritis. Now I would undergo another scan. So here's how I spent a half-day at a Hospital...
Friday May 16th I arrive promptly at the Hospital for my 7:30am appointment. It's a Hospital, so there's paperwork then waiting. If there's something I should be good at after all my medical adventures it should be waiting. I'm no good at waiting, but I have learned to endure. For today I would need to endure multiple tests spanning four hours. First there was the scan of my hand.
Simple process, place hands face down on the scanning table where the tech told me to and a few minutes later I was done. The next test would require an injection of a mildly radioactive substance and a full bone scan. A waiting period of several hours for the material to go through my system was required in order for the injected substance to spread through me. I was advised to drink a lot of water during this period. With nothing else to do, I wandered around a Hospital I had once been employed at 20 years earlier.
Around 10:00am and I'm back in the Nuclear Medicine department ready for another go-round. I'm advised to go to the washroom (I take instructions to drink lots of water very seriously.). For this next test I'll be strapped on a table (simply to keep my legs and arms from moving too much) while the table slowly goes through a scanner. It's akin to a very, very slow CT. Very slow. It will take an hour for a transit. During this time you try not to move, to think about that itch on the side of your nose, or the general not-quite-comfortable feeling -I really really want to roll over on my side, but of course that cannot happen. So I try close my eyes and achieve a state of detachment, where the world fades away and calm is within me. I think they call it "sleep".
Sleep of course never happens in a hospital, but I achieved a degree of relaxation I played a game where I would close my eyes and guess how far the table had progressed when I opened them. In a Hospital you have to make your own fun. Only an hour later -it seemed longer- and I was being unstrapped from the table. A few more tests would need to be endured however.
Specific tests would be done on my hands and knees. I was rearranged, still on my back on that very narrow table, with my hands on a supporting pillow over my abdomen. Another pass through. These tests were far shorter but it was getting past 11:00am. There's simply nothing to be done, the processes take the time it needs, and the patient simply has to be stoic. Finally, by 11:30 that morning my tests were complete. In a few weeks my results would be ready.
Tests concluded, and I'm ready to leave the Hospital. But there was one caveat: the radioactive tracer material in my blood would be active for a short time that day. Should I need to cross the border into the USA, I would undoubtedly trigger their radioactive alarms! Far be it from me to create an international incident, I would spend the rest of my afternoon at the local library.
Waiting for results is another fun game we play with the medical system. For several weeks I waited for the phone call from the family doctor that would summon me to discuss the findings. But there was no call. My knee was really bothering me and I initiated a follow-up consultation with my family doctor. What I would learn was what I suspected: I have Arthritis. Specifically, Osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is probably what I and many others assume to be 'old age'. Everything aches, and some range of motion needs to be done slowly and delicately. My family doctor and I discussed the extent of the arthritis. It's in all my joints, more pronounced in my aching knee but also in my finger joints and elbows. He prescribed a topical ointment for my knee, and some pills that would hopefully alleviate some of the pain. To date the ointment seems to be working, but it's a chore: I need to apply 10 drops, repeated four time for a total of forty drops. Then I have to do that process four times a day. That's 160 drops a day. And the key is to massage it into your knee. There are other considerations for this arthritis thing too.
One is to keep active. I don't have to run marathons (not that I ever did) but I should keep walking. With summer approaching my bike and I have begun to do some riding. I find that the knee responds well to this activity. The other consideration is to keep your weight down -no point in making painful joints struggle with carrying more of a load than they need to.
June is winding down and my aching knee seems to respond to this treatment and exercise. I'm just careful not to stress the finger, there's no way to straighten it without surgery, and at this point in life, it's not an option. Another medical challenge accepted and managed the best way I am able. I don't worry about growing old, I'll get there in my own time.
