Oh, fuck

Okay, I've had just about enough of this. I got a call from Dr Bez this morning, saying that I should come into the surgery to pick up a note for the ultrasonographer I'm going to see tomorrow (8:30 am; that's inhuman). Apparently at some point between my appointment with him yesterday and 9:30 this morning, something occurred to him either because of some bloodwork results that came back or just some evil little notion that clicked for him when reading over my case file and he wants my uterus and ovaries scanned as well as my upper abdomen. The note, when I picked it up, read "? ovarian pathology"*.

...Ovarian pathology?!? Yes, it's a vague term, but it's one of those terms that rings alarm bells, if only because of how vague it actually is. Not to mention the "getting a call first thing in the morning saying to get this done" factor - I just can't see this having come to him out of the blue, so does that indicate something came back in my recent blood tests that raised a red flag? I'm trying not to think things like "Well, it's not like I had my heart set on having kids anyway, so why the hell do you care if this is bad and means that you have to have various bits removed?" because a) I don't know anything yet and b) that's not the point anyway because I like having the option, y'know?

Communication from my boss asking for my sick leave certificates to date (which I'll post in a couple of hours or when the rain stops, whichever comes first) and my permission to contact my doctor about this mess. At least that's easily dealt with and I won't have to worry about what to tell him for awhile if he talks or writes to Dr Bez. Frankly, I'm a lot more worried about my ultrasound appointment tomorrow, and what the hell happened to suddenly have "ovarian pathology" thrown into the already alarming list of possible diagnoses.

Note to the world at large: Okay, I admit it; I'm scared. Can you stop now?

[* - the question mark, for those of you not familiar with doctor speak, should be read 'query'. Basically means, "Might be this: check for it".]

Dis-Appointment

Well, welcome to the NHS again. It really says something when you can be even remotely contented with the fact that you managed to get a supposedly urgent gastro appointment for 28 days after you booked it.

The first bit of excitement was spending 20 minutes on hold at the appointment booking line. Apparently the hospitals have centralised their booking systems - individual departments don't book anymore; there's a central appointment line for each. Which is useful in a way because it spares the department secretaries the work, but in another way it blows because they don't seem to have enough people manning the appointment booking lines to deal with demand. So yeah; 20 minutes by the clock with intermittent recorded voice saying "We know that your call is important. Your call will be taken as soon as possible" before somebody picked up and actually booked me the damn appointment.

So yeah; after walking the appointments guy through my details (oh so slowly), I got the appointment for 3rd November, 9 am. Of course, that would suck if I was even still remotely hoping to go on the US trip, but I suppose it beats the crap out of having to wait 60 days, which is the estimate they previously gave me. Again, it's sad when waiting a month for an urgent appointment seems like a good deal. Kind of like Amtrak trains, when an hour late is actually preferable to the usual alternative.

Anyway, I am now sitting and watching Saw. Hooray for gory distractions to my current issues. The more I watch this film, the more I see how clever it is, and where the clues are when you can look past the gore. I am looking rather forward to Saw 3, because I'm hoping that it continues the fine tradition of good writing, acting, directing and blocking of the other two. Okay, Saw 2 wasn't quite as good as the first one, but it was still pretty damn good, and I have no reason to expect Saw 3 to be a huge decline in standards from the second. They keep changing the group dynamic, which I think is the key to keeping it from being repetitive. So I go and watch the movie and generally try to settle down. At least I have something to do.