Near the end of May, I visited the Orthopedics department at my medical group to assess a new problem in my right hand – my fingertips were intermittently numb. A couple days earlier, I had been discussing that problem with a pair of people who had similar symptoms dealt with, and in each case, it was related to carpal tunnel. I received a carpal tunnel diagnosis years ago, so it made sense that these new symptoms could be related.
And yet, when I saw the doctor and mentioned my carpal tunnel, instead of being sent for an EKG – apparently the only accurate way to diagnose carpal tunnel and determine the severity – I was sent to a month of Physical Therapy (PT) on the possibility that the arthritis in my neck was causing the numbness. Here I am, eight PT sessions later – with out of pocket expenses and eight gardening mornings lost – scheduled for an EKG a couple weeks from now.
I’m not clear on the decision making process here, though I suspect the bureaucracy of insurance is part of it, opting for the presumably cheaper PT instead of another test. (I’ll know for sure which is cheaper once I see the billing.) I am disappointed in the process, having to wait more than two months from my initial appointment to possibly discover the cause, and having lost so much gardening time.