That scared me

When I called the urologist yesterday to get the results of my ultrasound and book my hospital procedure, the nurse freaked me.

She said the doctor needed to call me to discuss the results of the ultrasound before she could organise my hospital visit. I can’t remember her exact words, but the implication was that the radiologist had found something that impacted on the next steps.

I immediately freaked out and imagined the worst. The ultrasound clinic had sent me my scans and I started examining them obsessively and consulting with Dr Google a lot.

I also had way too much time to fret because the doctor wasn’t available to call me until 9pm.

By the time he finally rang, images of tombstones with “I told you I was sick” written on them had been flashing through my brain for more than six hours.

I sat down for the bad news and he proceeded to tell me that my kidneys looked good, my bladder looked good … but …

I braced myself …

And he gravely announced that I had a very large fibroid in my uterus.

I stood back up again.

Yes, I said, that’s been there for YEARS.

He said the scan showed it was 7.6cm wide.

Yep, that would be about right, I said. It’s about the size of a three-month-old foetus (I didn’t tell him that I had named it Freddie).

Freddie’s dimensions were included in the referral that was sent to the urologist, but he must have forgotten due to exhaustion from all those long days he spends in surgery.

I started laughing when the call ended – I had put myself through all that stress and worry for no reason. The unknown was actually the known.

Now I just have to get a clean bill of health from my hospital procedure next week to check there is no medical reason for the microscopic traces of blood in my wee and I’m in the clear.

I was going to wait and do it through the public system to save money, but my mum and dad want me to sort it out straight away, so they are going to pay my private hospital excess.

Mum texted last night and said she’d send me a cheque in the mail.

I did not know cheques still existed.

Thanks Mum and Dad!

Song of the day: Tears For Fears “Shout”