One Small Step Forward

(This is the continuation of my saga with Chronic Extertional Compartment Syndrome – if you haven’t read the first parts, it might be easier to start there!)

Last week, I saw my sports medicine physician in Calgary. He viewed my results from the test in Arizona and asked if I wanted to be referred to a surgeon.

“Yes, please.”

From what I understand:

• 2-3 months to hear from/see the surgeon
• 4-6 months for surgery

There’s an off chance that since I’ve skipped the line, the surgeon may be able to “squeeze in” my minor surgery (it feels odd hearing this terminology when he’s talking about slicing open my legs) between other surgeries sooner than normal – time will tell. I also confirmed it’s a day surgery, so I’d be in and out the same day. They almost always operate on both legs at the same time, if it’s bilateral, so I’m a little worried about the stairs in (and into) our house, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

By the way, if you didn’t catch the reference, the testing kit is still not available in Canada so I’ve effectively jumped from 15th on the list for compartment syndrome testing to first on the list for the surgery. The sports medicine physician was interested in knowing costs and process to have the test done in the U.S. Most of our short appointment was discussing my experience down in Arizona. I wonder if he’ll start recommending this as a viable option to patients; some have been waiting to be tested since May.

In the meantime, physio exercises, fascial stretching with my RMT and getting back in to an exercise routine (once this 2+ week cold passes) are my priorities. I want to be as healthy as possible come surgery time, and if something by chance improves my condition, naturally I’d rather solve this without surgery if at all possible (though unlikely at this point).

While it’s difficult to put many things on hold, like travel, while I’m waiting for a surgery date, it feels good to know that by the end of May, I should be actively recovering from surgery and on a path back to the life I used to know.