I’ve been joking lately that I’d like to take the next step in figuring out my health mystery soon — and not “soon” in dog years. Things feel like they’re moving very slowly.
To recap: just before New Year’s, I had a physical and pelvic exam. Because my uterus was enlarged, the nurse midwife suspected I had fibroids. She ordered an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis. But the ultrasound results were unclear… so the plan is to hand me off to a specialist for further testing.
It hasn’t quite been a month since the pelvic exam and original diagnosis… but it feels like it’s been ages. After the ultrasound, I had a week to wait for the doctor’s office to call me with the results. Then I had to wait for the new doctor’s office to call me to set up an appointment for my initial consultation and figure out what further testing we’ll do. Probably an MRI, possibly a biopsy?
I feel kind of like I’m in doctor limbo. Office number one has handed me off, but office number two hasn’t picked me up just yet.
I finally got a call yesterday to set up my initial appointment at the ob/gyn clinic. Hooray! I just have a few more weeks to wait for the appointment itself. Still, it feels like progress.
The clinic I’ll be going to is a teaching clinic attached to a hospital. I don’t mind the thought of students being involved in my care — they will be under the supervision of fully trained teachers the whole time. And one big advantage of the teaching clinic is that a lot of my testing will be covered by the hospital — I won’t have to pay much (if anything) for the MRI. They can be expensive!
Another advantage of a teaching clinic is that in a school setting, they’re more likely to be familiar with the newest research and techniques. If there is something weird going on with my uterus, I feel like I’ll maybe have more options for treatment. Also, it kind of feels like I’m getting multiple doctors for the price of one.
I was starting to get a little worried until I got my official appointment with the new doctor — the days were crawling by as I kept the phone close, hoping for a call. It was just under two weeks of waiting, but it felt like an eternity.