What a pain! Injury diagnosis just rubs salt into the wound
By Beth Teitell
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
What's worse than breaking your wrist?
Not breaking it.
That happened - or rather, didn't - to a colleague.
She showed up at work Monday wearing a brace, with a sorry tale of falling outside a movie theater, in front of her (mortified) children, no less.
``I just had it X-rayed,'' she reported, holding her right arm gingerly, and describing how painful even the simple act of turning an ignition key is when you've got a fracture.
The sympathy poured out all morning as she relayed her story to fresh listeners. ``I can't believe you're at work,'' one co-worker said. ``You should be at home in bed.''
Sometime after lunch I asked if she'd gotten the results back yet.
``It turns out I didn't fracture anything,'' she said, glumly.
I was confused. ``That's good news, right?''
``I guess,'' she said. ``It is and it isn't.''
On the plus side, she didn't have a fracture that could heal improperly, or require time-consuming physical therapy.
But big deal. The part that hurt the most was that her trauma had not been validated.
``They didn't feel your pain,'' I said.
``And now no one else will,'' she said.
I pointed out that she did have a brace on, and that ought to count for something.
``It's over-the-counter,'' she replied. Unspoken, but heavy in the air, was what we both knew: Anyone could go to CVS and buy herself a brace.
A break, or better yet, a multiple fracture, would have marked her as a person of action. A doer. Her wrist could have been broken rapelling down a ravine, or skateboarding.
But a soft-tissue injury? It hinted - no, screamed - at slipping on a TV Guide that had been left on the floor.
cw0``You just need to position it (the situation, not her wrist) right,'' I told her: If people ask, just say, ``They decided not to cast it.'' As if casting was an option she'd rejected out of stoicism, not something she hadn't even been offered.
Later that day I mentioned my friend's situation to an emergency room doctor. ``She's upset it's not broken,'' I said.
The good doc was familiar with the feeling. ``People lose sight of the fact that what they want to be is healthy,'' he said. ``In the short term, they're looking for the reassurance of a label. But most diagnoses are not good - very few are benign.''
I was all set to call my colleague at home to reassure her, when the doctor said something even better: ``Some fractures can be missed by the X-ray.''
They can?
I could hardly wait to share the good news.
``Guess what?'' I said yesterday morning. ``It might be broken after all!''
She pumped her hand in the air. (Yes, her right one, the one that wasn't broken).
``Yeah!'' she said. And then, ``Ouch.''
