The Tact of Doctors

I have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with many Doctors in many different situations in my 42 years. I recall my Father when he was told he was going to have to have a quadruple bypass, Dad's Dr. was straight forward, very blunt; "you're going to die, this artery is 90% blocked, this one is 99% blocked"...etc. etc. Dad ended up having a triple bypass because of a vein being too small to replace, However, it wasn't a blocked artery that killed him. I suppose most heart surgeons are more "matter of fact" I was appreciative of his tact or lack there of. My brother thought it was unnecessary and as is my brother's character, wanted to "kick his ass".

I have been having gynecological issues for a long time. Three years ago I had an endometrerial ablation (they burned the lining of my uterus) for my endometreosis. My procedure fixed my problem and I was liberated of the monthly nuisance we women have to endure. I loved my Dr., I'd been seeing her since I was sixteen, she always had a good poker face and nothing was certain until the tests came back. When on July 1st I began bleeding again I called her only to find out she had retired the "DAY" before. My new Dr., whom I had only seen once before had me come in, even on the phone, "we need to make sure you don't have 'cancer' or something". I had a pap smear and she sent me for a sonogram and set me up for a followup in two weeks and prescribed "two" antibiotics?!?

I found myself having chest pains at work one day and went to the ER. They took my blood and said I had tested positive for blood clots and was immediately sent for a CT scan, to which nothing was found and they sent me on my way. In the ER, they never seem to want to search any further for a problem, only having scanned my chest and lungs for clots. What about my brain, my legs, they could be anywhere. I knew I had my followup in two days so I would bring up the issue with her, I knew she would peruse it.

Granted, I like my new Dr., its hard to find a female Gynecologist. But she's young and when she talks she expresses herself with certain facial expressions. "you have developed white spots on your cervix" she says while clenching her teeth and smiling, her head bobbed in a downward motion. What was that? We were sitting in her office at this point (never a good sign when you have to see her in her office after your examination). She also went over the results of my sonogram with many clenches, smiles and head bobs as she explained all of the "abnormalities". I hadn't heard anything in the span between the tests and the appointment. My previous Dr. would call me immediately, sometimes at 6:00 or 7:00 pm, personally, if something came back amiss. OK, so this Dr. doesn't believe in "no news is good news".

I finally asked her about my blood test and questioned whether she felt we should be looking for blood clots and why would my test come back positive if there were none found? Her response included more clenching, smiling and head bobbing. "It would come back positive because of what is going on below". Now, I know a simple failure of an edometrial ablation would not prompt a blood clot test to come back positive, at least my common sense tells me that, otherwise every woman having her period would test positive for blood clots, but I'm not a Dr., what do I know? I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express at least not recently.

So, I have a thickening of the uterine lining, its mottled (discoloration), its falling, there's a growth within the lining and something about my bladder that I don't recall as I was in a fog for a moment. I've developed white spots on my cervix in a matter of just two weeks. She wants to do a biopsy on it and schedule a D&C on my uterus. OK. So over the weekend I developed new symptoms and then we have a storm the morning of my biopsy and there is no power to the Dr. office or most of the city. I call her exchange in a panic, explain my symptoms and she puts the D&C on hold and wants me to call and get squeezed in for a biopsy on my cervix and uterus as soon as they have power again (I can't see her clenching and smiling on the phone, thank God!) I've had to wait a week for the power to return and will finally get my biopsies today and then I'm on Vacation.

Now, I've already assumed the worst because of my Dr.'s body language and lack of tact so at first opportunity I visited Web MD. According to Web MD, I am exhibiting signs of Advanced Endometrial Cancer. ( I can no longer say I'm on the IBS diet due to having lost 30lbs in 6 months without being on a diet, its now the cancer diet) I've already rented a documentary/video journal of a woman with cancer. I learned of a non-profit organization called "Fuck Cancer", I'm ready to buy my "Fuck Cancer" T-Shirt and haven't even had the biopsies yet. If I weren't such a good sport with a sense of humor, I could be one of those people who, upon putting the pieces together themselves, finds themselves unable to crawl out of bed and is devastated before the results are even in. I cried for a day, the next day I was pissed because I wanted my uterus out 3 years ago and now I'm already in the acceptance stage. I'm sure I'll cry again when I get the bad news, because that is what I am expecting.

Dr.'s should be required to take a class on Tact and if they already do its not good enough. I like my new Dr. but she gets an "F". Maybe with experience she will learn or maybe I should be so bold as to tell her what she does. Now I'm going to be late for work, I should have taken the entire day off. At this point, I have a "so what" attitude anyway. It reminds me of Queen Latifa's movie but I don't recall the name, she got that "so what" attitude and went on one hell of a vacation.