Fixed, sort of.

And no, I wasn't "fixed," I simply had to make a return trip to the Urgent Care Center and make a second attempt at getting what I needed.

According to Wikipedia, Cortisone is a steroid hormone. It naturally produced in the body, along with adrenaline, and had various effects on the body as it is released. Recognizing the usefulness of Cortisone, a fellow by the name of Edward Calvin Kendall chemically produced Cortisone in 1950. This medical breakthrough earned him the Nobel Prize.

Last night, a medical Dr (who was rather impatient and somewhat abrupt) told me I was crazy for thinking she would give me a cortisone shot, thinking I might have an infection in my ankle that was causing the problem. She based this theory on the amount of swelling involved. I tried to explain to her that it was a normal thing for me to have somewhat swollen ankles, but she wouldn't have any of it.

Today, at about 9 am, I saw another Doctor. This doctor was no where near as busy, and after seeing the X-ray, said, "Those are the most horrific ankles I have ever seen. You must have a really high pain threshold. I don't see any signs of infection, myself. And even if I did, I think I would still give you the shot, because looking at your x-rays I figure you have nothing to lose."

That guy is my hero. Of course, as I anticipated, I felt nearly instant relief when I was administered the cortisone. I have included a couple of scans of the x-rays, to hopefully show those who are reading this exactly why it was the Doc figured my case was hopeless.

A typical ankle joint is a ball and socket. As you can see, these images here (courtesy of the guy who had to be called in for these x-rays) show that mine resembles nothing of the sort. Its basically 2 flat ends chipping away at each other. Someday, ankle fusion will be my only option, but until then I'll continue to plug along and do what I can.

Merry Christmas everyone. I'll be reporting in after Christmas Morning.