The Foot (Pt. 3)

I haven't completely lost my faith in socialized healthcare yet, but I just got kicked out of the UEA medical centre again without any help. I go into my appointment, which coincidentally happens to be with the same nurse that looked at my foot last week and told me to just take aspirin, like that cures things. I booked my appointment online, so in the box that asks what the appointment is for, I wrote "probable stress fracture follow-up," since that's what she said she thought it was last week. But the second I walk in the door to the exam room she says "What's this about a stress fracture?!" I told her that's what we discussed at the previous appointment, and she claimed she never said that's what it was. Well of course she didn't say that decisively, but she did say that might be what it is, and since then, I've done my research and the symptoms fit exactly! That's why I was having a follow-up, to see what they could do about it!

She told me that if I was "still worried about it" I should go to A&E at the hospital (the ER) to get an x-ray if they deem it appropriate. Note that she didn't say "you should probably go to A&E just to be sure it's not more serious." But now her tune is that it's weight-bearing, so it's probably not a hairline fracture, and that it might be muscular. Either way, I need an x-ray or an MRI, neither of which they can do at UEA, so it looks like it's A&E for me tonight. I called my mom just to make sure I wasn't overreacting and being stupid about all this, but really, regardless of the fact that it hurts in a sort of annoying, occasional stabbing way, I just don't want it to get worse by me walking on it. If the second opinion at A&E tells me not to worry about it, then I'll just have to accept it, but the fact that it looks funny, hurts most of the time except when I'm not walking (rare), and fits the symptoms of a stress fracture makes me think the lady was just brushing me off.

So, after Sarah's birthday celebration tonight, I'm packing my books and iPod and taking a taxi to camp out for hours at A&E. I just want a final answer from someone who's not irrationally annoyed with me, and perhaps a test that's more than just jabbing it for five seconds. And hey, it's FREE!