Zed's Bad Day...

[przed]

...or why medical tests suck.


So last week I get a call from my doctor. Which wasn't good, because I hadn't seen him for a while, and wasn't expecting to hear from him at all.

Turns out that the mammogram I had in August showed something they wanted to check out. They didn't think it was anything, but they'd booked me for a biopsy today.

Not fun, but I figure they'll turn me into a human pin cushion, send me home, and tell me it's all fine a week later.

Nope.

They tried to turn me into a human pin cushion. They really did. But I've got this little problem with my right arm. It's got crap mobility, and it couldn't do what they needed it to do to get me in the damn x-ray machine and then stick me with the damn biopsy needle. Two very nice technicians tried for an hour and a half. Repeatedly. A bunch of different ways. And all they succeeded in doing was stiffening up my right shoulder, and ripping the muscles in my neck from the crazy contortions they tried putting me in.

In the end, the very nice doctor decided it wasn't worth it trying to do the biopsy when he was pretty sure they weren't going to hit the right spot. He figures there's a low chance it's malignant (20%, which isn't bad, except that I have this talent at getting things that there are long medical odds on me getting), and the best alternative is to watch closely and see what happens. I'm now on a schedule of mammograms every six months, and if the damn spot grows, they "get aggressive." Which means they cut the damn thing out.

I spent the rest of the day at home with a heating pad on my neck, catching up on Eureka (which is still my happy little show, thank god) and The Mentalist (which I'm now deciding whether to ditch or not because there's not nearly enough Cho being adorable this season!).

I could totally have had a better day. And I now need to not worry about this in six month increments.

Oh joy.

Comments

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Absolutely a bad day, from beginning to end. If you're going to be put through all the worry and contortions, the at least you ought to have some resolution! And it's somehow even more difficult when everyone is trying so hard to do what they're supposed to do, but it still doesn't work. Arrgh. Classic definition of a bad day. *g*

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I agree with what others have said that your doctor is probably being extra careful--which is good, really.

I think you should have extra treats of various kinds for the rest of the week, though!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Going through it all, and then being told they couldn't do the damn biopsy really, well, sucked. And they really did try, and were very nice about it all. And they totally racked their brains to come up with a solution. But it just wasn't going to happen.

::sigh::

I think extra treats is an excellent idea. *g* ::reaches for another licorice, and a helping of Bodie and Doyle::