A Health Scare Story, But Mainly a Gratitude Post (2)

So, this was me, four months after losing my mother to uterine cancer. At about the same time, we also lost two uncles (one of them not blood-related) to cancer. It was three funerals to the same disease in a span of five weeks. In 2020, we lost an aunt (not blood-related) to lung cancer.

29 December, 2023. Friday, 4PM. Still at the GP. The doctor couldn't tell what the white spot was and said they needed to send the x-ray to Public Hospital A for investigation, which would take three weeks. Three weeks. While my coughing was getting worse. I asked to bring it to the hospital myself, but she said, no. If this was something bad, what good would waiting for three weeks do for me??

But this was a Friday before the long New Year's weekend.

I ran to two private hospitals' EDs, trying to find a specialist who could give me an answer, and there was none. But the staff at the second hospital suggested that I go to Public Hospital A's ED; there's always a specialist on duty there.

So I was at the Public Hospital A's ED for probably seven hours. A lot of it was mostly waiting. Waiting to see one rude doctor for the first round of screening and tests, then waiting to see a helpful doctor and do more tests. But I was so scared, I didn't care about the seven hours or the rude doctor. Just tell me that I was healthy.

I did another x-ray and *cries* the white spot was still there, albeit less prominent. But the x-ray was also showing infection. The good doctor suggested a CT scan -- again, public healthcare -- which would take weeks. So I told her I'll do the scan private. She gave me two antibiotics and suggested I take them for five days before doing the CT. She set 5 January for the follow-up and more tests at the specialist clinic, but I still had to get confirmation of the date from the clinic after the New Year's break.

And... nope. No 5 January appointment for me. In fact, you'd be surprised if there were no disconnect between these two departments. It took me two trips to the clinic to get a referral letter for the CT scan and dates for the blood test, more TB tests and that follow-up appointment. Regardless of what the ED doctor said, the next available appointment was 19 January, and all the tests even later than that. Basically, forget ED, I was starting over. I had to fight to get the tests done before 19 January.

The good ED doctor also wondered why I wasn't given antibiotics by the GP. I'm not sure if I told her that I did ask the GP: While waiting for the "three-week investigation", how do I manage the cough? Are there any other cough meds that I can take? The GP replied with something along the lines of "Seems like it won't be any use."

The rest of the story:
Part (3)

Image: knockknockstuff.com