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Knee surgery and the Builder's Show don't mix
comments (0) February 8th, 2008 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
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For some time now, I have been
putting off calling an orthopedic surgeon about the pain in my right shoulder—even
though four years ago I tore the rotator cuff in my left shoulder and learned
that if I had come in sooner, I might have been able to avoid the invasive
surgery and its lengthy recovery period. But when my knee started to hurt, too,
I finally gave in and called.
“Which one hurts you worse?” the receptionist asked over the phone.
“My shoulder, I guess. At least, it’s been hurting longer. Why do you ask?”
“Because you can only see the doctor about one problem at a time.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“The doctor is very busy. He only has time for short appointments.”
“Okay, so schedule me for two appointments back to back.”
“We’re not allowed to do that.” At this point, we were both trying very hard to
be polite to each other. When I finally saw the doctor a few days later, I was
still pissed and hoping for revenge.
The doctor walked into the examining room. We shook hands and exchanged
greetings. And all the while, I’m thinking, please, please, please, give me the
setup line. And sure enough, he looked down at my file, then looked up at me
and asked, “How’s that left shoulder doing, the one I fixed? Any lingering
effects from the rotator cuff tear?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’m not allowed to answer that question. Apparently,
regulations limit us to discussing only one problem during each visit, and I’d
rather talk about my other shoulder.”
He got a funny look on his face and asked, “Are those your regulations or
mine?”
It turns out, not surprisingly, that some patients will come in and besiege the
doctor with a litany of complaints, taking up an inordinate amount of time. The
receptionist tries to protect him from that and sometimes is a little more
militant than necessary.
He told me he would be happy to examine both my shoulder and my knee. He found
a bone spur in one and a torn meniscus in the other. I blame carpentry. In 30
years of building, you spend a lot of time either down on your knees or working
with your arms overhead, or sometimes both. Neither is good for the joints, and
eventually they start to wear out.
The knee is the more pressing issue. Ignoring the problem can damage other
cartilage in the knee and lead to arthritis. I go in for arthroscopic surgery
next week, which means I’ll miss the International Builders’ Show for the first time in 15
years. But Tim Snyder and Chuck Bickford are going, so they can report back as to
whether some company once again offers visitors to its booth a chance to have
their picture taken while sitting on a Harley with a beautiful woman behind them.
Or whether Massachusetts
builder and blues
guitarist extraordinaire Albert Cummings is rocking the parking lot in the
afternoons.
I don’t actually mind missing the
show this one time. And I certainly won’t miss Orlando. My one regret is that I won’t have a
chance to visit the
Mohawk booth and ask them what they were thinking.
Mohawk is one of the world’s largest floor-covering manufacturers, and
apparently they’re very proud of their environmental stance. To promote that
stance, and to entice me to visit their booth, they sent me a small box
containing a miniature trash can and a handful of refrigerator magnets boasting
about their green efforts. One of the magnets says: “Mohawk is committed to
reducing landfill…”
I was going to give the box back to them at the show and say, “Here. Keep this
out of the landfill.”
posted in: Blogs
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
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