I received a voicemail from a doctor at the ER. On the voicemail she said:
“Hi, this is Dr. BEEP from the ER, we found something on your x-ray. Can you please give us a call back?”
At the word “something” I was ready to hang up the phone immediately and call her back. But I forced myself to listen to the end of her message. I hung up and called back the ER. It rang a few times and then I got an infuriating voicemail box:
“Hello, you’ve reached the Assistant Director of BEEP hospital leave a message!”
So I now have the following information:
–I have SOMETHING in my knee
–The person who provided me with this information MAY not exist
It turns out Dr. Beep was alive and well and proved her existence by returning my phone call.
Here’s how the conversation went:
“Hi this is Dr. Beep from BEEP hosiptal. Thanks for calling us back, most people don’t!”
“Of course!” I said “I want to know what you found on my x-ray!”
“Well, we found a lucency at the proximal tibial shaft that has uncertain significance.” She said matter-of-factly
“What does that mean in English?” I replied
“Well,” she began “You may have a cyst or it may be cancer.”
Here is where my brain EXPLODED.
What would possess someone to say such a thing, I don’t know. Needless to say after many tests, I don’t have cancer. But this story makes me want to move to Canada because the health care system and bedside manner in the United States are terrible.