At the doc's

[la_belle_laide]

I went to the doc this morning. I didn't have to wait very long; maybe about 15 minutes. In the waiting room, some lady was screaming into her phone, some other person was yelling at the receptionist over a different doctor, and some other woman came in with pneumonia and decided to talk to everyone. Then she turned on the TV and put it really loud. God, I hate the doctor's office.

Anyway, once in the office, I asked the Dr. about the whole Sjogren's syndrome thing and he asked me a few questions, too. Like, dry eyes, dry mouth, stuff like that. I told him some of it, but again he was in a huge rush ("Sorry for the wait; my last patient was very sick and has to come back later too, so...") He poked around all my lymph nodes to make sure that the palpable ones hadn't gotten any bigger (they haven't.) I asked him to check out a new one I started to be able to feel in the hinge of my jaw. (I also started to notice that around the time that Adam Yauch passed from salivary gland cancer. That was a week-long panic attack.) He said that one was nothing to worry about.

He asked if I'd had blood tests recently. I told him I had, but hadn't got the results yet and I'd asked them to fax the results to him once they came in.

He said, "If you do have it, then it's very low-grade." He gave me a number for a rheumatologist and I was out the door in five minutes.

Now I'm kind of debating whether or not to pursue it. He didn't seem too worried about anything and said my symptoms were really mild. Do I really want to bother with another doctor? On the other hand, I keep thinking of all those stories you hear when someone goes to a doctor for some little, minor thing, gets a referral to a specialist "just to put your mind at ease" and they find some weird, random, House-like thing just in time. And then they say, "Thank goodness I decided to go!"

Maybe I'll wait for my blood test results, and if those are all peachy, I'll just forget about it unless it gets worse. I mean I have so many damn appointments, maybe that's the reasonable thing to do.

So tomorrow I have to take Haku to the vets, then Friday I have to take Haku (and me) to the chiropractor, then Monday I am having my first acupuncture session, and Thursday, another doctor, this one way the hell in Stonybrook. I'm pissed because I swore I'd never go back to that place after they gave me a ticket for parking in a regular parking lot. I even fought them like a bastard over it, but they said that if I didn't pay the fine, I wouldn't be able to register my car. So I was like, "Eff them, I'm never going there again for any reason," except, well, it's a massive hospital/school/tons of other things and I guess that was unrealistic. I'll probably have to pay the same amount as the fine just to park there for the day.

Eff them in the earhole, seriously.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Eff them indeed! My medical experiences over the last 10 years have been purely hellish largely for the reason that the doctors were always in a hurry and ready to say everything was fine. Only everything wasn't fine by a long shot. It wasn't cancer or anything exciting for them, so whatever. Only I paid dearly in weeks of lost work, pain & anxiety. My advice to you is to see another doctor until you fine one who actually stops what s/he is doing and listens to you speak. Makes eye contact and can accept that you are telling them something is not right, even if it's not a life threatening emergency. My Doc here is wonderful. Not especially warm & fuzzy, but cut & dry & to the point, and he listens. He pretty much figured out I had a prolactinoma in one sitting just by listening to my whole story when no other doc anywhere did. Because they didn't listen or think because (I think) it wasn't really very exciting. Which is why I suffered with staph in my sinuses for nearly 5 years also, because no matter what I said I knew was going on in my body, they kept treating me like I had a bad cold. Even when I lost 6 weeks of work. Seriously. Eventually you'll find the right doctor & it doesn't have to be because you're looking for some crazy disease, just someone who really pays attention to you. ~~RT

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the brief opinion is right and there's nothing much wrong and you don't have to worry. Or at least I hope so. You seem to have this somewhat under control, and you've got enough other stuff going on in your life that it's probably time you caught a break. Still, it's good that you know what to keep an eye on. Here's hoping for good blood test results.

[misstottenham.livejournal.com]

I'd say that you can't take chances with your health so defo get it checked out to the point you feel comfortable that everything has been done to your satisfaction and that you feel you've been listened to.

Bloody parking. Over here we have to pay for hospital parking and it's extortionate or else you'lll get clamped. In Scotland it's free, they also get free perscriptions while us English pay through the nose. So much about healthcare that's not fair.

Goos luck though, I'm sure you'll be just fine, but better to put your mind at rest, sometimes the not knowing is the worst part.