Life, the universe and medicine – part 1

Like everyone, I assume I’ll live forever. Although I often wonder whether anyone would come to my funeral and who would wear black, it never actually occurrs to me that there is an endpoint. It’s almost as if I would come along too to watch proceedings running smoothly and along the lines I wanted. Death was something I thought about, but in a rather abstract, offhand sort of way. It happened, of course I knew I would die at some point, but that point was somewhere out there … way off from here, where I am now. And then I hit a brick wall. The wall consisted of a tiny little bit of blood coughed up in sink. The worst, or perhaps the best part, is that if I hadn’t fractured my elbow just 17 days earlier, I would have paid it no attention. Ignoring it as probably something to do with bleeding gums. So, let me get back to where all this started. I am 57 years of age. I am fit, well and healthy – at least I think I am! I got married 41 days earlier, fractured my elbow on my honeymoon and fell into the black hole of the medical profession 20 days later. I called my GP to make an appointment, bearing in mind the most I usually saw a GP for was the occasional prescription, this was a momentous event. I mentioned the phrase coughing up blood and was offered an ‘emergency appointment’; to those not resident in the UK and unfamiliar with the good old NHS, this meant I would see a GP the same day. So off I trot and relate my symptoms to Dr Jones. I’d had a chronic c...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Emotional Health Happiness Thought for the day Women's Health my story Source Type: news