For the most part, that is what happened. Then I started having random heart palpitations or "flutters." On top of that the burning I'm having at the base of my throat is not getting any better either. So...
Is all this caused by stress that I'm suppressing or is there a medical reason for all this. I can only make those assumptions right now. I can also make a doctor's appointment...which I plan to do tomorrow. I can also try not to let my imagination get the better of me and start doing Internet research and freaking myself out about these symptoms and thinking I have some type of major disease or ailment!
Of course, with all the illness (cancer) that has been running through my family these past few years, it's hard NOT to think it could be something like that. My mother was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer in March 2007 and then in Sept 2007, my aunt (mother's sister) was diagnosed with stage 3B ovarian cancer. So, I know my hubby is more worried about things like that than he lets on. Maybe it's because I make a joke about it everything it comes up to keep things less tense. But the last thing he says in those conversations is "go to the doctor!" He's right. But here's the catch...
I'll call tomorrow and it will take me weeks to get in to see the doctor. It will frustrate me so much that I will probably go to the "doc in the box" or clinic near my house and see what I can get done there first. I don't know...I just haven't had the best luck with my "normal" docs these past few years. More on that in a minute.
I also need to make an appointment for my annual "female" exams which were due in March. Yeah...I'm overdue and that doesn't make me happy either. I didn't have the best experience last time I went for my annual. Nothing really drastic but it just disturbed me at how quickly I was run through by the doctor. To begin with, my long-time doctor (female) was not available when I finally made my appointment after two years. I had to redo all my paperwork as a "new" patient - which I thought was ridiculous - and see another doctor - but the good news here is that it was the doc who had delivered two of my children.
Okay, so I have my exam and talk about how my mother and aunt both have cancer and that it's just "a little too close for comfort" and I'm worried about this and what do we need to do about this. He in essence told me he didn't think I had anything to worry about as long as I got checked out on a regular basis. So I went on to talk about the menopausal symptoms I was experiencing that were getting very uncomfortable. He said he would prescribe an anti-depressant that would help with the hot flash symptoms. I just stared at him and finally said "really? An anti-depressant?" And he said, "yeah!" Okay..... I also had another physical issue going on and was not happy with the solution given and wanted to talk about that more in the doc's office after the exam was over.
So I get dressed and meet the doctor in the hallway to go to his office and he stands at the doorway of his office to give me the anti-depressant prescription and a pamphlet for the other condition and the paperwork to go get a mammogram. I was in such a tailspin with all this info and I'm sure disbelief that we were standing in the office rather than sitting that I just took everything and left!
For several days I was so upset by all this. I mean, you get rushed through your appointment and you hardly have time to even think of questions you need to ask. I told one of my best friends - who is a nurse - about all this and she was absolutely furious. I said I considered myself intelligent enough to know what questions to ask a doctor but in this situation it just all completely escaped me and I felt awful about the visit. I also wondered about women - young and old - who aren't assertive enough to ask questions or even question the treatment they are getting. Then again, I consider myself assertive and I didn't know what to do in this case.
For the sake of ending this story...NO, I didn't fill the prescription (or take the samples the doctor gave me), and no I didn't use the info in the pamphlet for the "other condition." Instead, I went online to investigate natural and holistic ways to combat hot flashes and consulted with my friend the nurse about the other condition and she gave me the name of a specialist and information on what my options were in this case. None of these were offered by my doctor.
Now I will get into the story of how it nearly took an act of congress to change internist at the same medical group in Dec 2007. I had actually already done this and went in to verify while mom was having treatment at the cancer center. Long story short, I went to the medical group manager and she told me to go to the "new" doctor's receptionist and tell her I was transferring as a new patient with this doctor and all would be taken care of - because I was already listed as being transferred. She told me to make an appointment with the new doctor when I spoke to the receptionist. Well...easier said than done. When the receptionist heard me say "new patient" she didn't even let me finish and spoke over me saying " The doctor is not taking new patients." I said "No, you don't understand, I'm not a new patient, I'm transferring from another doctor and this was already done in May." She would not budge NOR listen to me and then ordered me to go sit in the waiting room. Well, I guess the group manager thought I was coming back to her office so she came to check on me and discovered what was going on and walked back up to the receptionist with me and told her to make me an appointment.
Let's just say the receptionist was not very accommodating. She gave me the "first open" new patient appointment for....drum roll....May 2008. I just looked at the group manager after she told me the first available appointment and said "gee, I hope I don't get really sick and need to see the doctor between now and then." She said "well, we'll work you in somehow." Great...thanks...
I left to pick up my mother and told her all about this. See, this is also my mother's doctor who had been wonderful to her during her cancer treatment, etc. Mother was the one who encouraged me to switch since I was so unhappy with my current doctor who I felt did not listen to me and always kept me waiting over an hour for my scheduled appointments. Always. Anyway, I told mother that the next time she was scheduled to see the doctor, this is what she needed to tell her. That the receptionist was rude and would not listen to me and that I was treated terribly by her. I mean, for goodness sake...if you are sick and came to the doctor and had to deal with someone like that...good luck to ya!
Live and learn...right?
Time to get serious...about my health. But I still dread making these appointments tomorrow...
