X-rays, Doctor & Rehab

Almost the first thing I did this morning was contact my doctor about my dislocated shoulder. I went on the patient portal and wrote up a message to his office describing what had happened to my shoulder when I fell while walking down the street. 

I wrote "Yesterday afternoon I tripped over a grandkid and fell while on a walk. I dislocated my shoulder. Wife and I got in the car to go to the ER when the shoulder slipped back into place. Didn't go. Wearing a sling now and taking acetaminophen. Better but not good. Should I come in for evaluation? X-ray? Probably PT at some point to get range of motion back."

While I was doing that Becky went over to Walgreens and got me a sling to wear for my shoulder.

About an hour later I got a call from the office of a referred orthopedic doctor's office, Dr. Daye, and they made an appointment to see me within the hour at their office in Williamsville and also arranged for me to get a X-ray of my shoulder. Becky drove me out there and we arrived around 10:30 am. The place was not very busy and they got me in for the scan right away. That only took a few minutes and then I waited a short time while the scans were reviewed by the doctor. Everything apparently looked fine and I met with the PA who explained the scan results and did an examination of the shoulder which included testing my range of movements and strength. She said I did very well. It would take a couple of weeks for the pain to resolve itself because of the injury but there was no serious or permanent damage. They were surprised that my dislocated shoulder popped itself back into place on it's own or with that very small effort of me trying to get a seatbelt in place. She also said I had good muscle and bone strength which helped keep the injury minor.

She recommended physical therapy to get my range of motion back and suggested Buffalo Rehab. They recently opened an office on the corner of Hertel and Parkside and I said that would work for me. They wrote me up a referral and gave it to me when we left the office. Everything happened very quickly and the whole process of getting the scan and seeing the doctor only took about an hour and a half. Traffic was very light too. 

Shortly after we got home I got a call from Buffalo Rehab and I made an appointment to start physical therapy after an evaluation next week. A little while after that I got a follow up call from Dr. Charles' office and they were very surprised that I had already had my x-ray scan and had seen the referred doctor's team along with getting an appointment for physical therapy. Katie and Todd were very impressed with the efficiency of my medical care. This had all happened on the day after Christmas.