life imitating art?

I love movies and books. All kinds. Fiction, non fiction, documentary, drama, action, romance. You get the idea. I’ve even been known to watch really crappy movies more than once if the location/scenery is interesting. Case in point. I don’t think Sleeping With The Enemy was a ‘bad’ movie, I just had a tough time watching it without saying, “Oh sure, anybody can just hand over a wad of cash and rent a house without references or a credit check.” Or, “Yeah, right, she got a job without having to produce a Social Security card.” But, it was the little house that she rented that gets me to watch this movie every time it’s on. I love the house. It reminds me of my grandmother and much simpler times. I bring up the subject of movies and books because today I have an appointment to get the results of my liver biopsy. Don’t you always associate movies, books, and cute little houses with life altering doctor appointments? Sure you do.
When I watch a movie or read a story about someone who was just minding their own business and one day they receive not so good medical news I’m always curious as to how I would take the news. Would I be the Rock of Gibraltar and calmly look at the doctor and say, “Ok…so what do we do now?” or would I immediately start vomiting all over the place taking time out of course to shout, “NO, NO!!!!!”, or would I faint dead away and have to be revived or just sit there frozen…tears streaming down my face? I guess I’ll find out soon enough. We’re 98% sure what it is that I have but it’s the progression of the illness that we’re waiting to find out about. Basically, we have no idea how long I’ve had this. The only thing we know for sure at this point is that 2 doctors have told me they have never seen a patient in their careers with an alkaline phosphatase as high as mine. WOOOHOOO! Now that’s really something to be proud of, don’t you think? Wow, I’ve always wanted to be remembered for something, but having a “career high alk phos” wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Go figure.

So….I guess I’ll know by this afternoon what I’m made of. I hope I’m the, “yikes, that frickin’ sucks but what do I need to do next?” type of person. I’m sure there will be tears…I cry at Hallmark commercials. I just hope that I’m able to suck it up and do what needs to be done without drama. I’ll leave you with this…..even if you’re feeling fine….go to the doctor for a checkup every year. When I went to the ER in December for chest pain, if they had ordered a simple chemistry panel they would have seen this. But, as it was, they ordered blood cultures that were totally unnecessary in a patient without fever and so there ya go. See, I’m still bitchin’ about the blood cultures. So much for ‘no drama’, huh? Anyway, that’s all I have for now. My next post will be about puppies, rainbows and unicorns...maybe.