I arrived at the hospital on time and easily found my usual parking place on the street. I was prepared with enough change, just in case it ran over and I had to run out and feed the meter. This had happened once before, so I was prepared,
The first person I met as I arrived was an information person at a desk. I asked her where my Doctors office was and she looked around and asked me if I could manage stairs. My first thought was to say, “Do I look like a guy who can’t manage stairs?” but I then realized that this is a hospital so they are used to dealing with people who can’t manage stairs and she just wanted to get me there the best way.
I arrived at the office early and was shown into an examination room. Now I am not an interior designer, but any idiot knows that if you’re sitting around an examination room for a bit, they need to give you something to look at besides a poster of a urinary tract!
To begin with, the people outside of the examination rooms need to understand that very nervous people are sitting in those rooms waiting, and can hear them. I overheard a conversation between doctors, or at least I heard the phone conversation on one end, about a woman in the last stages of some kind of cancer and they were trying to make her more comfortable. The doctor was quite caring, I was quite nervous and uncomfortable. They then went on to talk among themselves about diseased prostates, and I was in agony, praying for a good sports conversation. And, just like magic, my prayers were answered, and they went on to the Super bowl!
I sat for a total of an hour, but was visited during that time by an intern. She was a lovely young woman who was able to give me the specific information I needed to process about myself, as well as answer questions I had about the prostate in general.
She went away for a while and finally my doctor appeared with the same young intern. They had discussed me in the hall before coming in and I, of course, could hear them. She accurately relayed my concerns to the doctor. After reviewing test results etc., the doctor agreed with me that we would take a carefully watched “wait and see” position, providing the digital (finger not data) examination was OK. He asked if he had done one six months ago when I was there, and I reminded him that he had said the next time I came in he would find an intern with long fingers.
He laughed and said this intern's fingers were longer than his and asked me if it was OK for her to do the examination. I was good with that however, I said, “There may be some fantasy active here!” The young doctor was horrified and said, “There’s no fantasy here!”, and the doctor and I busted up laughing. “It’s his fantasy” the doctor said, “not yours!”
So in the end (yup, that’s where they put it) I was given a good bill of health, and I managed to avoid any complications one more time.
I will try and stay out of hospitals and urology clinics until the next time around, about six months from now. draft
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