« June 2009 | Main | September 2009 »
August 13, 2009
Silly Services FanBox : Jared as Entrepreneur
Posted by jeb2 at 01:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2009
Some of the best words I've ever heard: You don't have Cancer : No Hat in Particular
It is weird to post this. I almost didn't but my wife has posted some references to this on her blog and I have said enough in public that I think it will all make sense and help clear some air. Overall I try not to get too personal in this thing but this is important and I will leave the overly personal details out.
About a 6 weeks ago I needed to plug back in a TV and I couldn't reach. Instead of going on the floor or moving the table that was blocking me I tried to lean over it. I mean I put my entire weight into the table so I could reach over it. Two days later I had a horrible pain in the left side of my stomach - it hurt REALLY bad. Everyone I told laughed because the appendix is on the OTHER side. I went to the urgent care. They did a CT and found I had epiploic appendagitis - which is an inflammation, I took some pills for two days and was fine. Its a funny illness because before CT they would open you up only to discover that you didn't need to be opened up. That was that.
However - they told me that the CT showed some other abnormalities and that I needed to see my doctor RIGHT AWAY and get an MRI. They saw something - something that shouldn't have been there and something that could be Cancer. No matter what happened next I had to face this realization "I'm 37 years old - and I might have Cancer."
This is also where the fun medical journey began. I don't have a regular doctor. It isn't that I don't go for medical stuff but I just go to the family practice at UH because it is across the street and you can just see whichever doctor is next in line. I called over to MRI and they said that my doctor had to request one first. I called over to the doctor and they said I had to wait till tomorrow.
The timeline was a nightmare: on Wed I was told I might have Cancer on Thursday a met with a doctor who sent me for the MRI but they weren't able to schedule it until Monday. The doctor also told me that she wasn't going to be my doctor that she wasn't taking new patients and I needed to follow up with my regular doctor. Remember, this isn't the urgent care - this is the doctors office telling me this!
Monday I got my MRI and they said the results might be done on Tuesday and that my doctor would call me (even though she said she probably wouldn't I later found out she legally had to follow through with it since she ordered the test). I called on Tuesday to find out if the results were ready and then again on Wed to find that the results were in BUT because the radiologist hadn't put the final seal on them they could only give them to the doctor and not to me. On Thursday I was able to get the doctor to call me and sort of read me the results saying that it might not be Cancer but that I needed to see a specialist to be sure - oh and they found something else that needed to also be checked.
Oh and along the way they forgot to run a critical blood test. They ran the test but never called me with the results. When I called for the results they told me they only call me if the results are bad so since I didn't get a call I should wait for a letter in the mail. Nice.
Friends of the family had the name of a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic that I should go see so I called over there and they told me to have my records transferred from University Hospital. Radiology told me to stop by and handed me the printouts of my reports and a CD (which I copied) and I dropped this off at the Clinic. The rest of my records I was told could only be requested by Fax and then they could only be sent to another hospital or I would be charged for them. They also said it would take 7-10 days. Nice.
I waited and called the Clinic (who had my wrong phone number and address on file because they bought Lakewood Hospital and merged their records) and they were very direct. The doctor wants to see you on Wed - you will have a CT scan at 2 he will see you at 3. Can you imagine that - they scan you then review it and then talk to you - all in the same day! They overnighted me a map and printed directions of where to go, what to do, and a schedule of my day.
I had my CT. Which turned into an adventure because I had a reaction to the contrast. Not as bad as the lady in the waiting room who looked like a lobster - but when they injected me I sneezed, everybody freaked out, and I got a little itchy.
The first doctor came in and told me "Clean bill of health - its not cancer". You have no idea how good that felt. She said I had to wait for the second doctor to tell me more and what to do next. He explained that what I had was "not Cancer" and there was nothing to do or could be done (there is still something there it just isn't Cancer) and that I should come back in 6 months for another CT scan. If it is the same then just check back every few years. He sent me home, joked that they would send a bill, and that I would see him in 6 months.
Tada. I don't have Cancer.
Hold the applause. No congratulations please.
I don't have Cancer. But I do have something - something that isn't Cancer but needs to be checked and rechecked. I now need to get a regular doctor - one who knows my personal history.
Also I can't take back past or future anxiety.
I know what this feels like - and it doesn't feel good.
The joke of it all is - I have (and have had) no symptoms! If I hadn't have bent over the table I wouldn't have known that I didn't have Cancer.
I try not to stress - I really don't - and those that know me know that I am always overloaded. This was a bit much. Its nice to have a release valve on it that's for sure but it certainly makes you see certain things differently.
FYI - I don't want to discuss health care reform. The asinine nature of what I went through is comparable to any other major industry crap that I go through and blog about on my other site:
http://www.theystolemydignity.com/
Thanks for listening and again please no congratulations.
Jared
Posted by jeb2 at 07:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack