My Cancer Journey: Part 4
Welcome back! When we left off in part 3, I had finally been referred to a specialist. It had been about two weeks and I was still waiting for the call from the urologist to set up the appointment.
Waiting is a big thing during this whole process as you will read. It seems like at every step there was something we had to wait for. Those times are the worst. While you are sitting around waiting it affords you the time to get lost in your thoughts. You start to run with every possible scenario you can think of and every negative outcome that may happen.
If you are ever unfortunate enough to find yourself in this position my best advice is to be prepared for the waiting. If possible, have someone around that can help distract you while you are waiting.
Meanwhile...
My wife and I were visiting my in-laws and we mentioned that we still hadn't heard anything from the urologist. My father in law suggested we call the guy that he had been to in the past. Since as I mentioned before, our insurance is PPO, I figured what would it hurt to try.
Important point: if you have PPO insurance, make sure the doctor you are going to visit is "in-network" for you. Most insurance companies will have a search tool on their website so you can look up doctors to see if they accept your insurance and are "in-network".
The doctor my father in law had used was indeed in our network, so I gave them a call and set up an appointment. I then called back my primary care physicians office to let them know I had an appointment and to ask them to send any relevant records over to the urologist.
They let me know that they already had an appointment set up for me with another doctor. Wondering why I had never gotten a call then, I asked them to cancel that appointment as I would be using the doctor my father in law had used.
One week later...
It was now the week before Thanksgiving and I was at my appointment to see the urologist for the first time.
Important point 2: If you are thinking about being a doctor and you are not sure which specialty to pick, urologists appear to be in high demand. I couldn't believe the number of people in the check-in area waiting to see the doctor.
Moving on, I got back to the exam room and waited for the doctor to come in. My wife had a meeting at work, so she was not able to come with me. I wasn't too worried though because I figured it would just be a preliminary exam.
The urologist turned out to be a really friendly man, I was immediately put at ease and happy I had taken my father in law's suggestion. I told him what was going on with the mild pain, swelling, and bumpiness feeling of my one testicle. He immediately said it was probably just something called a Hydrocele.
I let him know that I had gotten an ultrasound and we were both surprised to find that the other doctor had not sent that information over. He left the room to get the report from the ultrasound and again I found myself waiting...
Finally, the urologist came back and said he wanted me to get another ultrasound. This time though he wanted me to get the actual disc of the results, not just the report. He said, "I have to be honest with you, I don't like the way it looks". I laughed and said, "me neither, that is why I am here".
In addition to the second ultrasound he wanted me to get some blood work done that was going to test certain markers for tumor indicators. Who knew they had tests for things like that, and why don't they check that every time?
Anyway, they set up my ultrasound for the day before Thanksgiving and the blood work I could get done anytime before I came back to see the doctor the week after Thanksgiving.
Once again it was time to play the waiting game. Meanwhile, there was another thought nagging me... This could be something big, it might be time to let the rest of my family know what is going on besides just my wife.
Thanks again for stopping by, I will cover the next part of my journey and the results of the ultrasound near the end of this week.
You can read the first three parts of my journey here:
I hope everything ends up ok @bozz there seems to be an epidemic of this sort of things in the world lately, not to bring up spoilers but did you start any treatment yet or is this journal describing what is actually going on right now?
I know right? It is way too widespread lately. It would appear carcinogens are everywhere! Yes, I have started treatment. I am just hoping to use my story to make people aware and give them the information they may need if they find themselves in this position. Thanks for the comment!
I'm glad you speak with confidence, it gives me hope that all will turn in your favor, keep it up @bozz great writing
Thanks! I appreciate the compliment and the positive vibes!
It's absolutely hard to stay sober or calm when one's waiting at that particularly critical moment. Probably what's on mind is an endless list of 'what-ifs' one will have to do like taking a further check-up, having a medical treatment or even an operation.
I went through the whole process with a family of mine, and I can still remember how much pain, worry, and frustration it really is.
Perhaps the best thing to do during that waiting is to pop out the clinic for a while and get down to a cafe for anything that can make the patient and family probably be staying away from fear for a short while until the clinic calls the patient to go back.
The waiting is definitely rough. Sorry your family had to go through that. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Thank you for sharing this, Bozz. I know it isn't easy, but you're doing a great job of it. We are in wait mode right now.
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. It is probably one of the hardest things I have ever went through. Good luck with your waiting!