I get this question a lot. Here's the answer.Picture me at home, peacefully working at my desk.
Phone: Ring Ring.
Me: Hello!
Voice: Hi, this is McKay Dee Hospital. We're calling to schedule your surgery for next week.
Me: ....
Voice: Hello?
Me: Surgery for WHAT?
Voice: Ummm ... err ..... ummm .... Hasn't your doctor called you yet?
Me (voice escalating): What would my doctor call me about???????
Voice: Well, er.... your mammogram results.
Me (working up to a combo yell/shriek): MY MAMMOGRAM RESULTS!?!?!?!? WHAT ABOUT THEM?!?!?!?!? WHY DO I NEED SURGERY?!?!?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?!
(This would be my first, but not my last, encounter with icy-cold fear running rampant through my veins - the kind that dumps in when you intuitively know that the news is not good.)
Voice: Er ... we need you to call your doctor and then call us back. Click.
That's how I found out I had cancer. Pretty 1950's eh? I felt bad for the voice because that must have been awkward to say the least. I called my doctor at the speed of light. I was told, "She is in a meeting and is not to be disturbed."
I said, "DISTURB HER. NOW."
They wouldn't. I was told to call back in 2 hours. I waited. Called back in 2 hours.
"She's still in a meeting, call back tomorrow." Compassion is not dead, it's just completely absent in Utah. Trust me, this is true.
Then I said some choice items that are not repeatable here. Later that day, the doctor found some spare time to call me and to confirm that I did indeed have cancer.
Some days are worse than others. That was a bad one.
Loves to all - Jen
