Life is playing a cruel joke on me again...

I had my first surgical consult this afternoon. As I sat in the office, the ortho looked over the X-rays that I'd brought him. Seemingly, they displayed nothing but a clean bill of health as far as he was concerned. So, aside from the fact that my left shoulder has dislocated 7 times in the past year or so, "nothing" is wrong with it. Furthermore, because of this lack of severity, they may not operate. How screwed up is that? If they don't cut me up and fix me up, then my shoulder can, and most probably will, continue to dislocate every few months. Of course, in order to be eligible for surgery, this surgeon of mine has to deem my case to be severe enough. Like, come on. I'm not even at the age of a quarter-life crisis and already they won't give me a chance? I don't exactly want to dislocate my shoulder 6 times every year for the rest of my life. Geez.

He then proceeded to check out the films for my lower back, considering the prognosis from my GP was nothing more than an aggravating "You strained it. Here are some meds." Okay doc. That doesn't at ALL explain why I've had chronic back pain since the middle of high school, nor why the pain comes and goes as it pleases...even without the injury from this past summer. Then he broke the news to me. "There's an anomaly in your lower spine. One of your vertebrae is fused, so you have increased limited mobility and are more susceptible to strain. That's the way they decided to make you up there, so there isn't anything you can do." Wow. That's real helpful of you, to joke about something that obviously affects me and not you. Thanks for laughing at the fact that my back is basically screwed for life and that I've got to deal with chronic lower back pain from here on out.

To imagine that one of the key qualities of doctors is compassion.......