Thursday, August 1, 2013

I Find a Lump

If it wasn't for the fact that I had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a.k.a. cancer of the lymph nodes twenty five years ago, finding a lump wouldn't have caused as much consternation as it did.

This past Monday morning I felt a slight twinge on the left side of my rib cage. I reached around and gave myself a little massage where I had felt the pain. As I worked the flesh around I noticed a lump about the size of my fist. I checked the other side of my body, and there was no such lump there. Like I said, having had cancer I tend to panic over things like this. So I called my doctor and made an appointment.

Yesterday I went to see the doctor. Sitting there on the end of that examining table brought it all to a head, I was nervous. As I was waiting for the doctor to come in I steeled myself for the upcoming diagnosis. I was ready for the worst, twelve weeks of chemo, radiation, death. I was ready. Finally the doctor came in, asked a few questions, and then took a close look at my lump.
"Hmmmm..." Was all he said while poking and prodding the offending piece. Then he checked the other side of my body, and after a quick feel he gave his opinion.
"You're fat."
"Huh, what?"
"It's nothing to worry about. You have a typical fatty deposit for overweight people. It is a benign pocket of fat. No cancer, nothing to worry about. Unless being fat worries you."
So now I had the heavy weight of cancer lifted off my mind, only to realize that my doctor had called me fat. I call myself fat and that's okay because I think that it's only a temporary condition. This though, was stunning news. After all, for my doctor to call me fat... well that's like being officially fat.

7 comments:

  1. Nothing scarier than finding a lump. I'm so glad to hear that the doctor called you "fat" instead of saying you have cancer. At least "fat" is something you can kind of control!!

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  2. I'm so very glad you don't have a recurrence of cancer.

    You are like my Labrador. I took her to the vet about a lump and she also identified it as a "fatty deposit". She also got out the weight chart for my cat and we both agreed she was "husky".

    I sneak up on my bathroom scale every morning but it doesn't seem to work...

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  3. Sue, how does fat turn into knee surgery? Fat on the knee?

    Hostess, my doctor is cheaper than the vet otherwise I'd have had her take a look at it.

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  4. Recently we had a patient who raised holy hell and wanted her chart revised because she was noted as being "obese". She is 5ft. tall and 240#....I believe it qualifies as obese in anybody's book!! I guess if you look in the mirror and choose not to see it you want everyone else to join your fantasy!

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  5. Glad you don't have cancer, that was alarming. Where did you find that gross photo??

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  6. just part of the plan to fatten you up before the...

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  7. at least its not flying roaches

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