About a year ago I got a phone call from a doctor who works with the surgeon who was part of the team that did the PVNS surgery. To be clear, he works with the hip specialist that Ichilov hospital got to come specially to contribute his expertise in hip arthroscopy to my unusual case. This doctor who called wanted some more information from me directly about the surgery, and specifically about the pain levels I had experienced in the months afterward. He was doing research together with my surgeon (Dr. R) on PVNS and pain. I spoke with him at length, and tried to be as helpful for his data collection as possible.
I later found out that after my surgery, Ichilov hospital made an offer to Dr. R to leave Soroka and join them. It seems like the surgical opportunity for him (together with his talent, of course) with my unusual case got him his career advance! How cool is that?
Anyway, today this doctor called me again. It has been a year since we last spoke. First he wanted to know how I am feeling regarding to the PVNS pain. I was quite straightforward in saying that things aren't so great regarding pain. We talked a bit about that, and again I hope I answered his questions helpfully for his research.
Then he came out and said that he and Dr. R are presenting at a conference on arthroscopy in Europe, and wanted to know how I'd feel about presenting my case. Anonymously, of course. He said that the surgery itself was ground-breaking for arthroscopy of the hip because of the unusual approaches they took to getting into the joint. Because of the skin graft, they created new portals for the surgical camera and instruments. So he wanted to know if I'd provide them with pictures of my Gapey for their presentation.
I agreed, of course. I have no problem with helping medical research, and possibly helping others in the long run. There is very little research on PVNS because it is such a rare disease. So Robert and I did a little modeling photo shoot of the Gapemeister in all it's glory, from all angles. Lying down, standing up, side views, etc. I felt like I was doing police mug shots for the standing ones. "Stand against this white wall... turn to the side...".
We have yet to upload them and send to the guy on email; I'll try to do that tomorrow. (but *boy*, is that thing ugly. I mean I see it all the time, but from the straight-on camera perspective it is still kind of shocking)
Too bad he didn't ask me to come and model in person. I wouldn't mind a free vacation in Europe. Flashing gapey would be a small price to pay. :-) But alas, they only want me for photos. Oh, the price of being unusual.
Bon Voyage, Gapey. You strut your stuff like I taught you. :-)
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