Today was a pretty normal day in the clinic. I had been preparing for the fingernail removal that would've happened this afternoon, but Dr. Butzen decided to modify the removal to happen in the operating room instead of the emergency room, for simplicity, meaning I was unable to watch.
Nonetheless, today I saw:
-Cyst on palm side of hand
-Mystery wrist pain return patient
-Buckle fracture of radius and casting
-Cyst on top of hand and nerve construction pre-op
-Broken pinky follow-up
-ACL reconstruction diagnosis
~This patient has a terrible knee. Arthritis, bone spurs, uneven patella, you name it, he has it. It's the knee one would see on a 60 year old, yet this patient is only 35. 16 years ago, this patient tore his ACL, but it was only diagnosed as a sprain. Without an ACL, the patient had to learn a whole new way of making his knee work. Since the knee is not designed for a different set up, conditions like this become present. The diagnosis for this is either leave it alone, or reconstruct the ACL, although even surgery might not make it better. A knee replacement is in the near future.
-Cyst on middle finger knuckle
-Hardware implementation surgery post-op
-Wrist fracture diagnosis
-Patella tendonitis diagnosis
*A note on cysts: cysts are diagnosed by using a flash light and seeing if the cyst transilluminates the light (disperses it). Cysts are generally nothing to be concerned about if they aren't causing pain. Even then, they don't necessarily require surgery. Some methods I heard throughout the day were 1) poking it with a stick to drain it; 2) leave it alone; 3) or hitting it hard with a heavy object (Dr. Butzen recommends a Bible). However, whatever you do that doesn't involve surgery has a very high reoccurrence rate, so the cyst just keeps coming back.
We haven't heard back on if I have been approved to observe surgeries, but I am supposed to hear over the weekend.
Nonetheless, today I saw:
-Cyst on palm side of hand
-Mystery wrist pain return patient
-Buckle fracture of radius and casting
-Cyst on top of hand and nerve construction pre-op
-Broken pinky follow-up
-ACL reconstruction diagnosis
~This patient has a terrible knee. Arthritis, bone spurs, uneven patella, you name it, he has it. It's the knee one would see on a 60 year old, yet this patient is only 35. 16 years ago, this patient tore his ACL, but it was only diagnosed as a sprain. Without an ACL, the patient had to learn a whole new way of making his knee work. Since the knee is not designed for a different set up, conditions like this become present. The diagnosis for this is either leave it alone, or reconstruct the ACL, although even surgery might not make it better. A knee replacement is in the near future.
-Cyst on middle finger knuckle
-Hardware implementation surgery post-op
-Wrist fracture diagnosis
-Patella tendonitis diagnosis
*A note on cysts: cysts are diagnosed by using a flash light and seeing if the cyst transilluminates the light (disperses it). Cysts are generally nothing to be concerned about if they aren't causing pain. Even then, they don't necessarily require surgery. Some methods I heard throughout the day were 1) poking it with a stick to drain it; 2) leave it alone; 3) or hitting it hard with a heavy object (Dr. Butzen recommends a Bible). However, whatever you do that doesn't involve surgery has a very high reoccurrence rate, so the cyst just keeps coming back.
We haven't heard back on if I have been approved to observe surgeries, but I am supposed to hear over the weekend.