Making Headway on New Year's Resolution #3
I rung and had my first long chat of the year with my naturopath/dietitian today. I enjoy ringing Jo (or Dr. Dzung for that matter). I've known both of them for so long now that it's almost like ringing up friends. When I was really sick, my monthly chats with them were almost exclusively my social life. Sad, I know, but the truth was, when emegencies arose it was them I rang. I always found there was a satisfying sense of thank-goodness-not-everyone-believes-its-all-in-my-head when I rang freaked to death, but in a dead-calm, and had them panic for me.
I remember once I rang up in a tizzy. I had begun passing blood and I had this sudden fear that maybe my stomach was bleeding. I knew Dr. Dzung was on holidays, so I asked to be put through to Jo.
"Um..no, sorry...Jo is away, too. Let me see who else is in." The voice of Shelly, the receptionist, trailed off and I knew she must be reading the days appointment schedule. "Is it urgent? Would you like to specifically talk to someone you've seen before?"
The main doctor I see is the founder of a large clinic of various doctors. Over the years I've seen a few of them for different things. I knew that as close to tears as I was, I'd much perfer to choke up with someone I knew at least a little. "Yes, someone I know would be good. Is Yvonne there? I've seen her before."
"Yvonne....Yvonne...Wednesday is Yvonne's half day off. She would have left half an hour ago. If you like, I could try to get a hold of her on her mobile. Why don't I give her a go and call you back in ten minutes?"
"Ok, that would be great. Thanks." I hung up the phone and tried to tell myself I was probably overreacting. These things happen all the time remember, I told myself. You always think the worse and it always ends up being something much minor. It's probably just a tear. There'd be lots more pain if it was your stomach. Besides, who dies of a stomach homorrhage when they're sixteen?
I waited and hoped Shelly was able to get a hold of Yvonne. I waited an hour; no phone call. By one and a half I was half way through a funny movie and had calmed down enough to believe I was panicing over nothing. At two hours Shelly finally rang.
"I'm so sorry, Lydia. I've been trying Yvonne every twenty minutes and she's just not answering. She often turns her phone off." I said a few nice phrases at this point to reassure her that I wasn't about to send goblins to take up permanent recidence in her kitchen bin. She continued. "I just found out, though, that Dzung just got back from her holidays and plans to pop in this afternoon to see a few patients. I could put a note on her desk and she should ring you the instant she gets in. Is that ok? I'll say it's urgent."
Shelly is a darling. She must have said more than urgent on that note because my mum reckons she has never heard Dr. Dzung sound more worried than the time she rang that day. Dzung is a very practical, laid-back kind of lady--the kind who, one morning when I went in to see her made a face at me and complained about being tired because she drank too much coffee the night before. The first time I'd rung her for an emergency she'd rung me back sounding quite calm and almost annoyed. It was a year and a half and many, many complications later and since then her view of me had obviously changed.
According to my mum, when she picked up the phone Dr. Dzung sounded almost distraught. "This is Dr. Dzung Pri---what happened? Is she alright?"
In the end it turned out that everything was alright. A small blood vessel had ruptured in my large intestine and not my stomach, an easily treated problem and not at all life-threatening. But her reaction to a note with my name on it that read "urgent" stuck with me. So often I knew she had always endeavoured as all good doctors do to stay calm about all my problems to try and allay my fears, but when one little note after a long abscence triggered such a panic, I suddenly knew just how sick I was.
Things have changed. The last time I talked with her I remember laughing 'til I nearly choked. I can't remember what it was we both found so funny, but if nothing else, we both finally knew I wasn't going to end up in hospital for life and--if nothing else--I guess that's always worth laughing about.
Like I said, it was good to talk with Jo today. I still have a long way to go, and where Dr. Dzung is a big picture person, Jo helps me with all the nitty-gritty details of my daily routine and diet. I thought she'd laugh and tell me I was hoping for miracles when I declared I wanted to put on weight this year, but the optimism seems to have struck her too and she said it sounded like a great idea.
Earlier this year when I first began seeing her, I remember her looking at the long list of tablets I was taking and saying, "Whew, this is a lot. My first goal with you is to get this down. I'm going to have to add a few more for now but I promise you this is going to become less." It's taken a year but it is finally down. At one point I was taking over thirteen supplements and tablets. Today it dawned on both of us that we've finally whittled it down to five. Jo put on her how-could-you-have-ever-doubted-me voice and declared loud enough that I could almost imagine her putting her hand on her hip, "I told you it would happen!"
Heh. So it did.
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