| Hello, my name is Dr. Weldon. You must be Sue? Yep, that's right. What brings you into the emergency department today? I've been having some issues with my elbow and I actually can't straighten it. Okay, which elbow is it? It's my left elbow. Okay, and you say you can't straighten it? Correct. Okay, how far can you get with the range of motion? Maybe, I don't know, 170 degrees? Yeah, and what about when you flex it? Can it flex all the way in? Yeah, I can't touch my shoulder. It's like 3 inches away, 4 inches away. Yeah, so just over 90 on your flexion. Yes. Okay, and how long has it been limited that way? Probably 4 years. Okay. Do you remember an injury that you may have had to the elbow? No. No, and has that progressed over the years for better or for worse? I think at one point it got like any time I lifted my arm up it would be nervy and tingly. And then later on that went away and just progressively got stiffer and stiffer. Okay, so but in terms of range of motion, did you have less and less range of motion with that stiffness or pain over the years? I think so, yes. Okay. Have you seen a physiotherapist to try to straighten things out? Yes. Okay, and what happened with that? It was not effective because they would try to work the muscles in the joints above and below. But because I got an ultrasound actually and there's a floating piece of bone in there. Oh, I see. 6 millimeters. So I don't know if that's stopping my extension. Yeah, okay. Do you have other medical problems in your history? I have diabetes. Okay. And I have high blood pressure. Okay. Are you taking any medications? No. Okay, even though you have diabetes and high blood pressure? Oh, yes. I'm taking my diabetes medication. Okay, with that metformin probably? Yes. Okay, gotcha. All right, do you have any allergies? I'm allergic to biaxin and peanuts. Okay, no problem. All right, well, I think I'll examine your elbow and we'll probably get some x-rays today and then we'll see what else we might be able to do for you in terms of referral or further follow-up. |