| Oct. 3rd, 2006 @ 02:08 pm Paging Dr. House |
|---|
Mood:  less stressed
Sound: Gorillaz vs Spacemonkeyz - Laika Come Home
I’ve had a strange, nerve-wracking couple of weeks, involving medical tests, paranoia, and a confrontation with mortality.
It all started with a standard, routine blood test. When the numbers on my liver panel came back skewed, my doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound. I tried to get him to tell me what the skewed numbers might mean, but he stayed pretty tight-lipped, just saying it might indicate something wrong with my liver (which I could have figured out on my own). When I went in for my ultrasound, the attending specialist spent a long time gathering images … all quiet, and not at all informative. Towards the end, she left the room to “consult” with another doctor. When she came back, I asked if she’d seen anything unusual. Her response: “Well, we’re not going to admit you right now.” And that’s all she’d say. For additional information, I’d have to wait for my doctor to study the images.
At this point, I started to get a bit freaked out, wondering what the hell was going on. I studied the Wikipedia page on liver disease, while episodes of House flashed through my brain. Could it be cirrhosis? Hemochromatosis? Wilson’s disease? Cancer? When my doctor finally contacted me, two days later, he let me know that they’d found an “indistinct” area in my ultrasound, and I’d need to come in for a CT scan. When I tried to get him to tell me what an “indistinct” area might mean, he didn’t want to say anything, suggesting that it might be a cyst, or it might be something else. When I asked about cancer, he said we’d just have to wait and see.
Not exactly comforting.
Two days after my CT scan – two rather tense, anxious days – one of my doctor’s assistants called to let me know everything was fine. The CT scan revealed no major problems with my liver, and no impaired function. They still haven’t told me what went wrong with all those other tests – why my liver panel was skewed or what they’d seen on the ultrasound – but, apparently, it’s nothing to worry about.
Happy news, for sure, but I’m still not completely comfortable with the situation… Anomalous test results with no explanation? It makes me think they have no idea what’s going on.
I’ve got another blood test in a couple weeks, to re-check my liver numbers. Until then, I guess I’m healthy… Which is good. I’ve grown quite attached to my liver. |
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