This last week saw me going to the hospital for a CT scan.
You can be sure that as the radiographer was preping me for the process I told him several times about my old "ValleyFever" scars.
For the sake of clarity, Valley Fever is a fungal infection found in the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico. One of the problems with Vally Fever is that it is a disease which after infecting your lungs it leaves scars which appear on X-Rays for years to follow. These scars to a Radiographer who doesn't know your history can appear cancerous on an x-ray plate. I originally became sick with Valley Fever in September 2006, that episode took me until December of that year to recover. Believe me, you wouldn't wish Valley Fever on your worst enemy.
Anyway, last Christmas I had pneumonia which meant a chest x-ray. And a subsequent panic for my doctor crying cancer at a recent appointment.
Friday I went back for the results of the CT scan. Low and behold my doctor was in jolly mood.
"The scan is clear, you have Valley Fever scarring on your lungs."
Excuse me! You mean to say that now I am paying you to tell me what I told you?
All the fuss and problems he caused, my having to get time to go to the hospital, organizing someone to drive me, giving up their time and I had been right all along.
But His attitude is, that it is good news, he was not wrong in calling it cancer, he needed to get an updated scan of my chest anyway to see the status of the Valley Fever scars. So if he had told me that in the first place I would not be happy?
Of course I would be a lot happier than I am with a doctor who knows my history, going off on a wild cancer chase. Now if I do really get sick, do I believe him or do I just pay myself a big fat check and say I am as great a diagnostician as my doctor.
You can be sure that as the radiographer was preping me for the process I told him several times about my old "ValleyFever" scars.
For the sake of clarity, Valley Fever is a fungal infection found in the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico. One of the problems with Vally Fever is that it is a disease which after infecting your lungs it leaves scars which appear on X-Rays for years to follow. These scars to a Radiographer who doesn't know your history can appear cancerous on an x-ray plate. I originally became sick with Valley Fever in September 2006, that episode took me until December of that year to recover. Believe me, you wouldn't wish Valley Fever on your worst enemy.
Anyway, last Christmas I had pneumonia which meant a chest x-ray. And a subsequent panic for my doctor crying cancer at a recent appointment.
Friday I went back for the results of the CT scan. Low and behold my doctor was in jolly mood.
"The scan is clear, you have Valley Fever scarring on your lungs."
Excuse me! You mean to say that now I am paying you to tell me what I told you?
All the fuss and problems he caused, my having to get time to go to the hospital, organizing someone to drive me, giving up their time and I had been right all along.
But His attitude is, that it is good news, he was not wrong in calling it cancer, he needed to get an updated scan of my chest anyway to see the status of the Valley Fever scars. So if he had told me that in the first place I would not be happy?
Of course I would be a lot happier than I am with a doctor who knows my history, going off on a wild cancer chase. Now if I do really get sick, do I believe him or do I just pay myself a big fat check and say I am as great a diagnostician as my doctor.
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