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My bill of health, the state of the union
posted Wednesday, 21 February 2007
I finally went to the doctor today, not only about my recent abdominal pain, but about some odd lumps just under my skin on my side and back and for the overdue 5,000-mile oil change, tire rotation, etc. So, to avoid suspense, I'll cut to the chase: I have tumors. Two of them, but I'm likely to develop more and there's pretty well nothing I can do about it.
Before you freak out about it, though, I should point out that these are fatty tumors, also known as lipomas. They're not cancerous, they're not dangerous, the doctor says they won't kill me in a million years (anyway, I suspect something else will probably do me in before that time). Each one is basically just a cluster of fat cells that, for one reason or another, decided to band together; if I put on weight, they'll probably get bigger and vice versa. If they show up in an unsightly place, they can be removed.
He agreed that the abdominal pain is probably nothing, but since an ultrasound is so non-invasive and easy to do, he recommended using one to check up on my gall bladder, just to be safe. Speaking of safety, the ultrasound will also reveal whether or not I'm pregnant. Here's hoping. Also on the subject of tests, I'm supposed to get my cholesterol checked. Probably, it's high. It was a few years ago when I had my last physical, but not so high that my then-doctor thought I needed medication for it (days later, the guidelines were revised downward, so probably I would have been given cholesterol-lowering drugs, but I didn't make it back to the doctor. Anyway, this cholesterol test he's recommended, and to which I have agreed, isn't your run-of-the-mill test. It not only breaks things down into your good cholesterol and your bad cholesterol, it also breaks both of those down into different types. The point of all this is that your numbers can, evidently, be misleading. All bad cholesterol--and all good cholesterol--are not created equal, depending on the shape and what it does. It's possible that your particular bad cholesterol can be dangerous even if the numbers aren't in the high range. Evidently, though, the test is seen by insurers as "experimental," which means they won't cover it, so I'll end up paying about $100 for it. My doctor said that for his part he'd like to see this test become standard because it's so useful, but he normally doesn't recommend it because of the out-of-pocket expense. In my case, because I indicated that I probably have high cholesterol and that my paternal grandfather died of heart problems at a relatively young age (54).
And that, my friends, is the state of the union of cells that is my body, at least as I currently know it. We'll see what these further tests show.
Before you freak out about it, though, I should point out that these are fatty tumors, also known as lipomas. They're not cancerous, they're not dangerous, the doctor says they won't kill me in a million years (anyway, I suspect something else will probably do me in before that time). Each one is basically just a cluster of fat cells that, for one reason or another, decided to band together; if I put on weight, they'll probably get bigger and vice versa. If they show up in an unsightly place, they can be removed.
He agreed that the abdominal pain is probably nothing, but since an ultrasound is so non-invasive and easy to do, he recommended using one to check up on my gall bladder, just to be safe. Speaking of safety, the ultrasound will also reveal whether or not I'm pregnant. Here's hoping. Also on the subject of tests, I'm supposed to get my cholesterol checked. Probably, it's high. It was a few years ago when I had my last physical, but not so high that my then-doctor thought I needed medication for it (days later, the guidelines were revised downward, so probably I would have been given cholesterol-lowering drugs, but I didn't make it back to the doctor. Anyway, this cholesterol test he's recommended, and to which I have agreed, isn't your run-of-the-mill test. It not only breaks things down into your good cholesterol and your bad cholesterol, it also breaks both of those down into different types. The point of all this is that your numbers can, evidently, be misleading. All bad cholesterol--and all good cholesterol--are not created equal, depending on the shape and what it does. It's possible that your particular bad cholesterol can be dangerous even if the numbers aren't in the high range. Evidently, though, the test is seen by insurers as "experimental," which means they won't cover it, so I'll end up paying about $100 for it. My doctor said that for his part he'd like to see this test become standard because it's so useful, but he normally doesn't recommend it because of the out-of-pocket expense. In my case, because I indicated that I probably have high cholesterol and that my paternal grandfather died of heart problems at a relatively young age (54).
And that, my friends, is the state of the union of cells that is my body, at least as I currently know it. We'll see what these further tests show.
Your comments, as always, are most welcome. (4)