A (Short but) Very Stressful Trip on the Cancer Rollercoaster

Yesterday I went to have my annual check up with endocrinologist. When I first saw her about five years ago, I was sent for a baseline thyroid ultrasound because I hadn't had either an ultrasound ever or an endocrinologist in a very long time (decades?). Big surprise there when they found a 'something' in the thyroid bed where the thyroid used to be but wasn't supposed to be anything.We started following it with ultrasounds to see what it was. It was clearly in the evil category of 'big enough to see but too small to do anything about'. So six month and then, as its stability became established, annual ultrasounds were the result. I ran into friends entering the hospital and then was a little late for the ultrasound but still had to wait a few minutes. I didn't have any great expectations of issues with the ultrasound. They finally called me and I went in for my turn. It met my expectations of no problems. I went on to my endocrinologist appointment to get the results and talk about my thyroid or lack of.While in the waiting room, I ran into another friend (see what happens when you are a frequent patient - your social life happens at the hospital?) and we were chatting away. Then a doctor showed up in scrubs and asked the front desk attendant for me because of the innocuous reason that 'the doctor needed more pictures'.My stress level grew. Immensely. No cancer patients ever want to hear that. They sent me back to the ultrasound waiting room for a few minutes and my stress l...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer Tags: cancer history fear recurrence stress thyroid cancer Source Type: blogs