This post is a little icky.
Yesterday was a tough day.
Checking for unusual lumps in the breast is something women are quite familiar with. Guys are supposed to check for unusual lumps in their testicles to a similar schedule. Except we don't, do we boys? We think we're going to live forever.
However, I do. My mother died of lung cancer and my grandmother from breast cancer. So I'm a little cautious about things, particularly when First-born came onto the scene.
And the night before last I found a lump. Yesterday morning I phoned my GP and was called in within the hour. He checked, and agreed that it needed a scan as soon as possible, and did I have any health insurance?
My company provides insurance, and by yesteray afternoon I was in a hospital having a scan. So within 4 hours of seeing the family doctor I was in the hands (literally, and a little painfully) of a specialist.
I feel irrationally guilty about this. My 82 year old grandmother cannot get insurance any more and so relies on the NHS. It takes her weeks, or even months to get appointments with specialists. In the time its taking her to see someone about her knee and hip she has deteriorated markedly.
I was in, and being checked within 4 hours of reporting symptoms.
There's something wrong with the system.
(The results of scan were inconclusive. The images are going off to another specialist for analysis. Probably using some software that I wrote. Oh, the irony.)
