Twisted Medical Surprises
In this day and age, when people feel something is wrong with their bodies, they often turn to the internet first before they seek the expertise of a medical professional. While "Dr Google"
can sometimes be a helpful resource, attempts to address one's own health issues without the guidance of a doctor can have dire consequences.
1. Little Red Dots
When I hit 16, I began noticing small red spots popping up on my arm. My mom instantly thought it was psoriasis and recommended tanning. So I started tanning for a week—but that just made it SO much worse.The spots spread all over my body, even on my eyelids. Eventually, I decided to check with a doctor and he made the most disturbing discovery.
Turns out, I had ringworm. The worst part? I had been spreading them across my body by applying lotions and baking them under the tan.
2. The Root Of The Problem
My hubby and I were goofing around and he chased me through the kitchen. Trying to dodge him, he slipped and hit the floor hard. Being a big guy, falling hurts him more. He knew straight away he was seriously hurt when he couldn't stand up.
He managed to get to the couch and said he wasn't in too much pain.
That night, he slept on the couch to avoid going up the stairs. We booked an ER appointment for the morning so we didn't have to spend all day there, but they couldn't see us until 2 pm. He was in a constant pain but it didn't seem too bad. Once we reached the hospital, we got quite the shock.
Turns out, he'd broken his hip and the whole ball joint from the top of his thigh bone had snapped off. The nurses were stunned he managed to sleep on it and hinted we should have come the night before, maybe even in an ambulance. The solution was surgery with hefty bolts to fix it.
What's weirder is that they said it's really rare for a fit 30-year-old to snap his thigh bone like this. There was actually a scarier cause behind it. Following some tests and an MRI, it appeared he was in the early stages of osteoporosis. What's even crazier? This was because of a benign tumor in his pituitary gland.
So, we discovered this brain tumor all thanks to him wearing slippery socks.
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3. A Heavy Burden
I got sick and had to get a medical excuse to miss work. My doc gave me a strange look after examining my stomach and sent me for a scan—which I delayed for two months.
The doctor later sent me a letter asking me to visit, and was pretty ticked that I didn't come back sooner.
He directed me to immediately pack up and go to Royal Brisbane because it might be cancer. After getting more scans, the results ruled out cancer, but found something else instead: a huge four-kilo cyst. All this time the only signs were my bloated belly and my mom's incessant fat shaming.
4. Not One, But Two
My eldest kid, who's 11, needed a physical for his junior tackle football gig. Midway through baseball season, he'd been griping about an ankle ache, so the doc requested he take off his shoe. On seeing a weird lump on the side of his foot, she revealed the crazy truth—he had a broken foot.
I was skeptical though because he had a similar lump on his other foot. But after checking it, the doctor concluded he had not one, but TWO broken feet! We were then dispatched for X-rays at the hospital.
All this while, I was secretly laughing inside, thinking it downright ludicrous.
My boy, fresh from a baseball game and pool session, believed to have two broken feet. However, my amusement swiftly turned into disbelief when the X-rays vindicated the doc.
This was my introduction to the world of flat feet, vulnerable to unnoticed stress fractures.
As treatment, my son had to live life in a cast for two months and was prescribed special shoes and insoles. His feet are still wonky, but that has never kept him from being on his feet.
