Good news, bad news, once again

When I hadn't heard anything from the cardiologist's office by Friday, I called them. Of course, you can never actually talk to a doctor anymore, and I've found that you can't even talk to a nurse directly, that is, no one answers the phone, you just have to leave messages and hope they call you back. Afer, that is, you've negotiated the voice mail hell that all doctors' offices seem to have now. In fairness, I know they're busy, but it's really frustrating when you need to talk to someone.

Anyway, I called and left a message, and someone called me back a few hours later, and she started out by saying, "I'm so sorry, I thought someone had called you." Um, no. And that scared me a bit, of course, because she really did sound somewhat stricken, and because their voice mail messages says, "All abnormal tests results will receive a phone call," which message I ignored because I think it couldn't hurt them to tell you when you get normal results, too. And it was a good thing I did.

She said the Holter monitor results were normal, showed normal heart rhythms, but that the blood test showed that my thyroid was high. She said that the cardiologist doesn't treat for thyroid, so they'd sent the results down to my gynecologist (they're in the same building) and I would need to call him. I asked her if I still needed to keep the appointment for the stress test next week, and she said yes, just to rule out anything else.

So I called the gynecologist's office, got their voice mail, waited a couple of hours, and just as I was about to call again, my phone rang. Again, I got, "Didn't anybody call you??" Nope. I got another apology, and "The doctor is out today, I'll have him call you on Monday, but I do know that he doesn't like to deal with thyroid patients, he'll probably refer you to an endocrinologist. Unless you have one already?" Um, no, if I had one already, we'd probably know that I had a thyroid problem . . .

I told her that the doctor she was referring to had done my surgery in January, but that he wasn't who I regularly saw, and asked if the person I normally see was in (she's a midwife). She wasn't, but the nurse said that she does deal with thyroid issues, so she might see me about it and I wouldn't have to make a separate appointment with an endocrinologist. The nurse said she'd have the midwife call me on Monday, and figure out what the next step is.

It's kind of scary to have a whole new thing going on that I don't know anything about, but I guess in a way it's a relief to find out that I hadn't been imagining it, that there is something wrong, and that it's not truly a cardiac issue, but something that can hopefully be fixed fairly easily and routinely.

I'm trying not to worry about it, and trying not to have any preconceived notions, but just to wait until Monday when I can talk to someone.

I told Bob that I think I've been to the doctor more in the last two years than I've been in my whole life, and that's not really an exaggeration. I suppose it makes sense that I would have more medical problems as I get older, but I really didn't anticipate just falling apart all of a sudden! Ah well. We'll get through it, just like we've gotten through everything else.

Bob called me on Friday night as I was driving home. He was driving home from Lawrence, where he'd gone to watch a high school girls volleyball game -- a friend of his has a daughter who plays. He asked me if I'd picked up anything for my dinner yet, since we'd agreed earlier in the day that we would each just fend for ourselves, but I hadn't. So he told me to go home, and he'd meet me there, and we'd go out someplace.

We ended up going to La Cocina del Puerco, which is such a fun place to go. Authentic Mexican food in a fun atmosphere. There was a live band playing outside on the patio, but we ate inside at one of the rickety metal card tables. I was tempted by fish tacos, but ended up having my usual quesadillas, and a very potent Margarita: we finished our meal and I drank the last of it, and told Bob that I wasn't sure I could stand up. He laughed, and I said, no, I'm serious. I could, of course, but it took some effort.

Saturday evening we went over to my brother's for my nephew Kris' 18th birthday party. I think it was kind of a last minute thing, but it was a lot of fun. There was pizza, and ice cream and cake, and Silly String, and presents, and a piñata.

And then on the way home, we stopped at Arthur Bryant's so Bob could pick up some meat to take with him on a short fishing trip. His friend picked him up at midnight last night. It's been kind of an interesting weekend, all things considered.