Good News/Bad News Kinda Day

First of all, when did signing in at a medical clinic get so complicated? I mean, I have a frickin’ master’s degree and I managed to screw it up. Okay, so I understand the new system that prevents every yahoo in the place from seeing who’s got an appointment, but one small glitch in the system (er, failure to follow instructions) and….kablooie. You end up waiting an hour.

So that’s what I did. As the minutes ticked by, I bonded with miscellaneous women filtering through, feeling like the undesirable left off the team each time a new arrival got called ahead of me. Since I don’t wear a watch (and, God forbid, I should turn my cell phone back on to check the time when no less than five prominently displayed flyers instructed us to turn them OFF), I finally discovered I’d been there an hour. Not that I was having so much fun that the hour flew by, but I guess I’d just switched over to autopilot or something. Anyway, I went to the window and asked if there was a problem.

“Do you have an appointment?” the clerk asks.

“At nine,” I say. “I’ve been here an hour.”

She glares at me. “Did you sign in?”

Duh. BUT, and this is where I made a critical error, I misinterpreted the instruction about tearing something off and keeping a number. Turns out I was supposed to tear it off and GIVE it to someone. Hell, there were SIX lines of instructions—I got bored and stopped reading after three.

“I missed your name,” she says, taking some of the blame.

They get me in next, but I’m taken to a business office. I’m guessing nothing important is likely to happen here…except maybe getting the billing straight.

Finally, I’m escorted to another waiting room where the temperature hovers around thirty below. Does this mean I won’t be here long?

No. It does not.

I wait and wait while more players get picked for the team.

Finally, a white-coated woman stops by and says, “What are you doing here?”

Exactly what I’m thinking.

“I’ve been waiting for you in the ultrasound room, but you need another mammogram first. Follow me, and I’ll see what happened.”

She drops me off in what I think of as the “possibly pissed room.” It’s another smaller waiting room with a television to keep the truly aggravated from throwing hissy fits.

I wait another ten minutes, and am about to announce a haughty departure, when white-coated lady collects me for the mammogram room. Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.
It is precisely two hours since I first arrived.

The technician does the mammogram, apparently targeting some area they’re interested in based on my exam from two weeks ago, then takes me in for the ultrasound.

In the darkened room, I suck up my trepidation and watch the screen as the technician does her thing. Hmmm. What’s that dark area she seems to be focusing on? What are those colors? I know blue is supposed to be good, and I’m not sure I’m real happy to see that little red mark. When she’s finished, she tells me to dress but not leave.

I don’t like the sound of that at all. What news am I waiting for? My sister-in-law has breast cancer, and I’m 100% positive I don’t wanna have it, too.

The technician comes back and says, “The radiologist isn’t too concerned.”

At first blush, I find these words a huge relief. I don’t even wanna voice or type the words she COULD have said. Then she hands me a form letter that I barely look at and tells me to come back for another exam in six months. I’m so relieved I don’t even ask any questions.

When I get to my car, I look at the piece of paper. On it are several options with little boxes. I scan down to the one the Radiologist put an X next to: “Probably benign.” Gulp. PROBABLY benign? What the hell does that mean? WHAT’S probably benign? Now I have questions. Like, could someone please tell me if this is what they saw four years ago when they did the other ultrasound?

Still and all…at least no one rushed me anywhere for a biopsy. No one shook their head and clucked their tongue looking at my reports. Life is good!

Oh, and the bad news? Kristen Nelson (the agent who’d requested a partial) emailed me a “no thanks” today. Oh well. No biggie…in the overall scheme of things.