Swelling is down, still trying to keep the foot elevated as much as I can.

As I said before, it’s difficult to elevate the foot without putting pressure on the heel. When I am at my desk, my foot is propped up with a pillow on top of the table. I have to sit a bit sideways to make sure the foot isn’t resting on the heel. Bad posture.

I’ve started to hop around a bit more to go to the bathroom, eat, etc. I wonder how bad that is for the recovery.

Called American Express to dispute the charge by www.mdnationwide.org. I’ve called them several times, and they don’t answer or return phone calls. American Express decided to just credit me back my $19.95 They are not going to dispute the claim with mdnationwide either, which I found surprising. So they are just going to eat the $19.95.. hmm.

The $19.95 physician report from www.mdnationwide.org contained no more information than what I could find on the physician’s Department of Orthopedics website.

The report’s content:

Personal Details (name, gender)
Contact Details (address, phone number)
Education Training
(Did not have his fellowship training information that I found on the Dept. website. This is a glaring omission since he did his fellowship in Foot/Ankle Surgery, and considering that I am getting my surgery on my ankle, this is an important piece of information.)

Nationwide Disciplinary Actions (no reports on file, this is good to know but this info is freely available elsewhere)
Physician License Status (active, with the License number, this is good to know)
Board Certification (info available on his website)
Board Certification Dates ( Date is different than what I found on the doctor’s website.. hmm)
Doctor’s Special Expertise (info available on his website)
Type of Practice (Faculty Full Time, info available on his website)
Membership Affiliations (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, membership info available on their website)
Publications Written (info available on his website)

The physician’s report from www.mdnationwide.org did not provide me with any additional information about the doctor that I found to be particularly useful.

MDNationwide has a guarantee, which I will soon test:

“We guarantee no other service will provide more pertinent/relevant doctor background credential information in the context of a same search, for the same or lesser fee, given the same input, within 30 days following your request, or your money back!”

I am going to call them to get my money back. To be continued..

Looks like there is a chance that I’ll have the surgery tomorrow morning. Doctor’s assistant called and said that they might be able to squeeze me in tomorrow for the surgery. He’s a foot and ankle surgical specialist so I am hoping that I am in good hands. No food/drink past midnight, and I’ll get a call early tomorrow morning.

Talked to a friend in the medical profession. He told me to make sure that the surgeon is board certified. I looked up the surgeon’s credentials through Google. Yep, looks like he is board certified, and he is a clinical assistant professor.

It all seems like such a crap shoot. I wonder if there is a better way to select a surgeon. I am able to do more extensive research on buying a television set than selecting a surgeon who will operate on me. I’ve visited a few physician review sites, and either they are pay sites or they are free sites with nothing more than the doctors’ office addresses.

Reading other’s reviews about physician review sites, it looks like http://www.mdnationwide.org might be worth trying. It costs $19.95, and they’ll compile a report for you within the hour. The website is rather cluttered, but it had some basic useful tips on finding a quality surgeon.

Disturbingly, this error popped up after I submitted my credit card information:

Luckily, I still received via e-mail the username/password to login to view the report. Nope, no report yet. I’ll check back in an hour and see if there is a report available. Otherwise, I am going to have to call my credit card company and make sure that my CC wasn’t charged. If it turns out to be a bust, I’ll try http://www.healthgrades.com. They charge $30, but has a better looking website. However, someone’s review from last year claims that MDNationwide compiles a better report. Yep, more research required to find the best Doctor review site, pay or no pay.

Getting around in the crutch is quite uncomfortable. I am thinking of buying the Hope Crutch. It costs $118 for my height.

I also found this:

Maybe I am nuts for considering the iWALKFree, but I think this might be a better alternative than the traditional crutches.. I’ve read some customer reviews, and overall, it looks like a good alternative to crutches. I’ve watched the company’s videos, and people can move around pretty well with it. It does look a bit goofy with the foot sticking straight out back, but it might be better than not being able to use your hands with traditional crutches.

I am not sure about going out in public with it, but it looks like it’ll work well for moving about around the house. For about $330, it might be worth it. I like the idea of the hands-free crutch, but I don’t like their implementation. I think it can be improved, even if it might cost a little more.

If there are any other alternatives, please let me know.