Stay Focused

I saw a doctor at the student health center on Wednesday who said that colon cancer (another possible match for my symptoms) grows very slowly, over eight to ten years, so unless a doctor overlooks a polyp, as long as you do your regularly scheduled colonoscopies, there really shouldn’t be any way to get colon cancer. However, she said she thinks our illnesses are “scheduled” and happen according to “God’s will.” (“Did a doctor really just say that to me?” I wondered.) She also doesn’t think illness is necessarily a bad thing—it’s a challenge or negativity we need to deal with. She did an exam and discovered nothing amiss, but since my bloating has been so persistent, she ordered an ultrasound.

As I left, she said crisply, “Stay focused.”

I went straight to the receptionist and said, “Can I say a thing about Dr. S.?”

“Yes,” she said, sounding wary.

“I love her!” The receptionist agreed she is lovable.

I told a peer about this later. She interrupted me to ask the doctor’s name and said she had seen the same doctor and did not like her, because she said a lot of unexpected things, which is exactly what I did like about her. My peer speculated that maybe she saves up all her unorthodox remarks for chaplains.

Right after I saw the doctor, I saw the dietician again and we adjusted the plan of action. She once had the same symptoms I have, which is reassuring. She said most people feel better in two weeks, but for others, it takes as long as six weeks, and if it’s not better in six weeks, maybe it’s not IBS.