I TOLD YOU SO. D*mmit.

I broke my thumb in February. It's called skier's thumb and since I'm a skier (and had actually been skiing that day), I could probably have gone with the story that I hurt it skiing. Which I did not.

Not these. But very very close.

I fell down stairs. Well, actually, I slipped at the top of the stairs ('cause I was still wearing my ski socks) and bounced down about the first six or seven. Normal reaction when falling? Fling out one's limbs! In this case, wildly grab for the railing and when the steps prove to be just as slippery and one keeps bouncing down them, the handrail bracket will attempt to stop one's thumb which will be yanked painfully backwards in a move eerily reminiscent of getting one's hand caught on a ski pole during a crash.

The yanking backwards will sprain the ligaments in the thumb, strain the tendons, and tear little bone chips off the joints where the ligaments attach. It hurts. Quite a lot actually.

But it never occurred to me that it was broken so it took me about 9 days of "hmm, my thumb and my hand still hurt A LOT" to call the doctor. I saw the PA, she ordered an x-ray after insisting she was sure it was just a sprain, and then she called me in the car to say, "It's broken! The radiologist thinks it's broken in two places! You need to go to an orthopedic surgeon!" Oh. FABULOUS.

So I went to the orthopedic surgeon who spent about 2.3 seconds looking at my thumb and then gave me the most uncomfortable brace to wear.

This actually looks more comfortable than what they gave me. Sexier, too - I got one in BSA brown. 

It was ugly and uncomfortable and I didn't like it so I immediately went out and bought a new one. It cost about $17 which was probably about 10% of what my insurance was getting charged for the piece of crap I wasn't wearing. 

I had to go back and see him again and each time I did, the office staff charged me my $20 copay. The second time, I questioned it and we had a conversation that involved me explaining that the last time I saw an orthopedic surgeon (two years ago, no broken bones but an actual skiing injury), I did not have to pay the copay. They countered with, "Did you have a broken bone?" Well, no, but it's an orthopedic surgeon and why am I paying for follow-up? "Our policy is that you pay each time with a broken bone." Which seems like a crappy way to differentiate but they did "go and check" (I am sure they were really checking with their insurance filing people and not just gossiping about what they were going to order for lunch; I heard them talking about things like "sandwiches" and "carry-out" and "I'll pay you later" so I'm certain that was it) - and then they made me pay again. 

So I payed them my second $20 that I didn't think I should and spent about 1.8 seconds with the doctor and left, never to return, because I'm pretty sure that it's cheaper to feel my own knuckle and tell myself it will heal in a few more weeks and just take it easy than it is to keep paying my copay to have the doctor do that. And I'm sure he has better things to do anyway than listen to me. He's probably glad I'm gone, anyway, since the second time I saw him he told me that I wasn't to ski on our trip to Colorado that month that was specifically planned to ski. I said, "Thank you, but I'm going to ski. That's why I'm going there." His eyes got very big. I wondered how often patients say to him, "Thanks for the advice that I'm not going to take." 

And now I'm wanting very much to call his office staff to tell them, "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!" Because look what I got in the mail from them today:

Yes, that would be in the amount of two co-pays I shouldn't have paid. 

So there.