Much Ado About... Nothing?

The biggest excitement of the ultrasound came when the radiologist came into the room after the tech went to ask if the images were sharp enough for him.  Was this good news? Or bad?

As it turned out, it was neither.

"When did you have your last mammogram?" he demanded, "It wasn't here."

"I had a digital mammogram in Salem, because the insurance company was fussy about how much it cost."

"We've worked to make sure the cost is the same with all insurance companies."

"Not YOUR cost. MY COST. I would have had to pay over $150 out-of-pocket to get a digital mammogram HERE, but in Salem it didn't cost me anything."

"REALLY!  We'll I'll get to the bottom of THAT."

We laughed. "OK," he said pointing to my shoulder, "When did that start hurting?"

I told him.

"When did you notice this?" he pointed to the bite mark on my arm.

"It was there almost a week."

"How did you get bit?"

I described ripping out the kudzu in the unmaintained parts of my front yard.

"That's an awful lot of work for a 60 year old woman."

I scowled. "It needed to be done, I had the time and the energy."

Well.

He is not convinced the lump is related to the tick bite. He does not think it will disappear quickly (less than a week), and that I should follow up with my PCP a few months down the road.

(Duh!)


Later, Julie emailed me, and I quote: "Sigh. Has the medicine affected it at all yet?"

My reply:
1. It doesn't hurt.
2. It isn't as red.
3. I have to poke around to find it.

I went to work yesterday, but was failing by lunchtime. A rest on the soft bed in radiology must have revived me, because I returned to work with more energy than I had in the morning.

We'll see, but so far I feel a lot better than I did on Monday.


Results on Friday. Stay tuned!