Portuguese Medicine

Stuff Happens...

I just love my readers. Yes, I fell off my bike…but it is not because I am a klutz. I wanted to see Portuguese medicine up close and personal.

Why?

I am using a voice recognition text editor that I downloaded for free from the Apple store. As I started selling voice recognition software to radiologists some 25 years ago for a lot of money this is pretty cool. I've asked Denise to edit the posts to make them more readable. But let me apologize in advance if we missed something. Now let me explain why I needed to download voice recognition software.

We ride our electric bicycles to the golf course. On Wednesday, 30 June I was riding home when I entered a traffic circle a bit faster than I should have. I hit a curb and fell sideways to the sidewalk. Fortunately, Denise was not far behind me and was able to help me back up and onto the bike. I was wearing a helmet so I didn't have to worry about head injury. My hip and my shoulder felt a bit sore but my elbow took the brunt of the fall. I road a short distance home. Denise put ice on my elbow and I took a few Tylenol. That night and for the next few days I continued to struggle with pain and swelling. Denise and I debated whether or not I had broken a bone and whether or not we needed to go to the emergency room. But hoping for the best I “soldiered” on at home until Sunday night.

By then the bruising on my arm was worsening…my hand and fingers were starting to swell and we thought it was time to make an appointment to see an orthopedist. I was able to use an online app to make an appointment the next morning at CUF which is the closest Portuguese private hospital to our home.

Not my x-ray…but pretty close.

My First Exposure

My appointment with the doctor was for the next day, Monday, at10:45. I entered his office at 11:00, which I thought was pretty good. He wondered why I waited so long and immediately ordered an x-ray. I walked downstairs and about 30 minutes later a technician took the required pictures. I walked back up to his office and within a few minutes he called me in. The images were available on his desktop and he showed me the proof of my bicycling escapades.

I had a fractured ulna. He explained that surgery would be required. That he would install wires and a tension device to pull the end of the bone back in place. He suggested that this should be done as soon as possible. Of course, I was anxious to have the surgery as well because Denise and I were to leave the next morning for our two-week excursion to the Algarve. (The potential ax murderers, a.k.a. apartment swappers were arriving that afternoon.)

Check Your Ego

If you are a regular reader you know that I've worked with physicians and hospitals for over 30 years. So when I say that this orthopedic surgeon checked his ego at the door it is saying something. Because he wasn't happy with how quickly the admission office answered the phone he walked to their office and secured a surgery time and date. (I had a choice of 22:45 Tuesday night or 19:00 Wednesday. He said he would prefer not to do it that late at night. Frankly, I’m not crazy about the prospect of a drowsy surgeon. So I said Wednesday would be fine.) He walked me to the casting area where he installed a temporary cast. He handed me paperwork for the EKG, chest x-ray, Covid test, and blood work required for admission. He provided me detailed directions as to how to secure all of the services within the hospital. By 15:00 that afternoon, I had completed all testing and was walking the 1.2 km back to my home.

I’ll continue the story on Wednesday. But now I want to share with you a video one of our readers made. We have been in contact with Lucille and Eric for about 3 months as they prepared for their move to Silves. I knew Eric was a talented photographer but I didn’t realize he was also a lyricist. I had informed them of my accident and I found this in my inbox on Friday. This little diddy will make you smile.

Follow this link to learn about my surgical experience.