Have you ever felt you were a character in a bad movie? Well that is how Spring began at my home. I finally decided to see a doctor for a general check up. I have had some back pain and he decided to do x-rays. He found nothing unusual in the x-rays.About a week later, I received a telephone call from his nurse stating he wanted to run a few more tests. I told her no, I had a large enough bill now and anything else could wait. Especially, since the doctor said I was fine.
Another week passed and I came home to a message on the answer machine. It was the nurse asking me to make an appointment. I ignored it. Another message left on the machine the next week. Now I was getting upset. What were they doing? Trying to drum up business? The next week the nurse left a message again, “We have scheduled a CT Scan of your chest tomorrow.”
Okay, now I was really upset. I called her and asked her to pull my chart, as she must have the wrong person. She said, “No, the radiologist found a fullness in the vessel in your chest.”
I hung up and called my husband. I worried and cried all night. Felt it probably would be a rotor rooter job of vessels.
The next day I carried myself over to the hospital for the CT Scan. The technician took a scan and then came out and asked, “What was it they were looking for?” I explained that the x-rays were sent to her by the doctor and what the radiologist report had stated. She then told me, “I don’t see anything, but sometimes when tests are done other things show up!”
Gee, that totally went over my head! I had to wait three horrible days to go back to get the results at the doctor’s office. All I did was worry. No sleep. The day finally came and my husband asked to go for the news. I told him no, I was a big girl and could take the news by myself. I really didn’t want him to miss work. I truly thought it was a clogged vessel.
I was called back to the exam room and the doctor sat down and said that the scan had found nothing significant in the chest. I began to smile until, he said, “But it found a 3.2 cm MASS in your adrenal gland. The CT Scan written report implied it did not meet benign criteria.”
Okay where was my husband now? I need him is all I could think. I was screaming inside. I calmly asked the doctor, “Where is your adrenal gland?” He explained where and the size and even drew a picture. “Next, you will have to have a MRI.” He left the room and the nurse came in with the date. I stood up calmly and went to the hall and the doctor came from another room and placed his arm around my shoulder and we walked down the hall. Okay, now I knew this wasn’t good news. I maintained myself until I got to the car. Then the tears began to flow. I knew my life was about to change.
I had the MRI and the results showed the Adrenal mass. I kept telling myself that surely someone would say there was a mistake. I live several hours from Houston Medical Center. I called the Cancer Hospital hoping that once I faxed the reports someone would say it wasn’t anything to worry about. Well, I was wrong.
I use to pass the Cancer Hospital on trips to my knee surgeon. I would always feel so very lucky that I was merely having knee problems. It was a very sad day when I had to turn down the driveway to the Cancer Hospital. I now have a patient number and face removal of the adrenal gland. The doctor informed my husband and I that it was a serious surgery and could cause massive hemorrhaging. For now, he would do follow-up visits until the mass reaches 5 cm. The point they feel it is malignant. I have already started having one symptom from the mass. It can cause high blood pressure and strokes. I am now on blood pressure medicine for the first time in my life. I return in September to see how fast the mass is growing.
The back pain, which brought me to the doctor, was not from the mass. It has totally disappeared without treatment. The mass has not metastasized. I have spent many nights crying with worry. But I truly believe God placed his hands on me and has guided my path for medical attention, before this became a situation that would end my life. He knows my family needs me too much right now.
Mary E. Reynolds
