Another visit to the hospital

The highlight of today, or the lowlight, depending on which way you look at it, was the visit to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) for Ottawacker Jr.’s appointment with the orthopaedic division, to find out what is wrong with his elbow. It is 15 months since he damaged it, during which time we have had a good taste of the incompetence of Ontario health administration, as well as gained an excellent idea of how hardworking and dedicated the medical staff are. Anyway, armed with the results of an MRI (from August), which revealed a subcortical oedema, we turned up expecting a quick five-minute “he’ll be fine, stop wasting our time.” We should have realised that there is no such thing as a quick anything where Ontario health services are concerned.
 
First of all, having picked Ottawacker Jr. up from school at 10 to take him to his 10:30 appointment, we found out we couldn’t get into the car park: it was full. There was a long line of cars waiting to get in – and nobody coming out. Only when a car exited the car park could another car enter. Mrs. Ottawacker jumped out of the car and, dragging the midget behind her, made for the ward, while I sat in the car and moved forward one car every five minutes until I got in. Once in, I went to the waiting room where, you will be unsurprised to learn, they were waiting. By noon, we had been called into the office for our scheduled 10:30 appointment. There we waited a little longer. In the end, Ottawacker Jr. and I (much to Mrs. Ottawacker’s chagrin) started playing Ottawacker Curling with the wheeled doctor’s stool in the room. The game passes a great deal of time and makes a lot of noise. In essence, one person sits on the stool, puts his or her feet on the wheel base, and then is pushed towards a wall by the second person. The objective is to get as close to the wall as possible without hitting it. (Of course, if you hit the wall, it is funnier than if you don’t, especially if Ottawacker Jr. is the one careening into the wall.) For some reason, this brought us a little more attention than we had been getting, and within five minutes there was a doctor sitting with us. He didn’t want to play Ottawacker Curling; he wanted to explain what was wrong with the boy.
 
For there is, indeed, something wrong with him (if you have been following this blog, you’ll be well aware of that). He has something called OCD of the joints. I knew he was fussy, but obsessive compulsive disorders didn’t affect joints as far as I knew. It turns out that this has nothing to do with the obsessive compulsive disorder I knew about, and everything to do with something called osteo-chondritis dissecans, which occurs when a segment of cartilage and underlying bone separates from the elbow joint. He needs an operation. The bone underneath the joint's cartilage is damaged due to lack of blood flow and can cause a fair amount of pain (it isn’t causing any pain at the moment). It is fixed with a small incision and keyhole surgery, and then 4-6 weeks’ recuperation. In the meantime, he can continue playing (which made him happy) and hopefully this will prevent any further deterioration. Fingers crossed.
 
Of course, being Ontario, we have no idea when this will happen. The second doctor who came in said we could “plan on enjoying the summer”; I asked for a second MRI to see if there had been any deterioration or improvement in the joint since the initial MRI – and she agreed. There is essentially no chance it will heal itself and it has gone on for too long already. So, wait and see.
 
He is in good spirits – I think he sees the operation as an adventure, which it is, I suppose – and is already looking forward to going into school with a sling after the operation. Mrs. Ottawacker and I are naturally less enthused about it all.