Doctor visit

Yesterday I went to the doctor about my shin. Now 10 days after the injury/trauma/bite/sting, it is still swollen and tender. Now it is bruised, too.

I explained to my doctor what I'd thought had happened, along with the related symptoms:

• Sun: Sting/pain when I hit the sand playing beach volley ball. No cut or bleeding; no sign of skin puncture. Sting/pain went away; shin swelled to a scary proportion. Thought I'd hit my shin on my opposite heel.
• Mon: Swelling reduced. No pain or discomfort. Thought it was an allergic reaction to a bee sting or insect/spider bite.
• Tues: No change.
• Wed: No change.
• Thurs: Swelling barely visible.
• Fri: Some swelling returned, bruising now visible, and brief/irregular sensations felt. Occasional 'burning' and 'tingling' felt around the swollen/bruised area.
• Sat: More of same. Now I'm really confused. If it was an allergic reaction to a sting or bite, why did I get this big bruise? If it was a trauma that caused the bruise, why was there no pain, and what did I hit my shin on in the sand?
• Sun: More of same. Decide to make doctor's appointment on Mon.
• Mon: Made doctor's appointment for Tues.

After my detailed explanation of the above, the doctor examined my shin and said it could be a number of things. He said the easiest way to rule out the things it isn't was to have an x-ray. So he sent me over to the imaging center where an x-ray of my entire leg was done. (I don't know why they x-rayed my leg above the knee when the affected area was obviously on my shin.)

My doctor's office called this morning with the results of the x-ray: everything was normal. This means that there was no hairline fracture or bone chip, and there was no "foreign body" inside my leg. One possibility was that I might have fallen onto a piece of sea glass and that it might be inside my shin. But the x-ray proved ruled this out.

So now I know what it isn't. According to my doctor this means I may have had a combination of a sting/bite and a trauma to the shin. We'll never really know for sure. He said that had I applied ice to it for the first several days it likely wouldn't have bruised or swelled so much. To my surprise he said I should apply ice to it now, 10 days after the fact, so I will begin doing that.

Fortunately I do not have any pain. There are still the occasional, brief 'burning' and 'tingling' sensations but they are more in the category of 'slight discomfort' rather than pain.

This is what I get for trying to act like a butch 25 year old playing beach volley ball.

Crush du Jour: John Barrowman