Doctor for Betty

Well, my doctor at Duke University Hospital Eye Center was adorable. 
The process once entering the hospital was slick. I went to check in just past the front doors of the hospital. Then I went to the waiting room until called. 

This place is enormous. Very much reminded me of Johns Hopkins.

I found it funny that the street to turn onto is called Eye Center Drive. 

Made it easy to find for the directionally impaired and Rick.🤣 

Once inside everything was made easy for me.

My paperwork given before my appointment said this would be 2 - 3 hours.

So I was prepared. I felt sorry for Rick to be honest. I knew I would not be able to see to drive home so he had to drive me here. Thankfully there was a place nearby that he wanted to go to that was a "wood store" so he wasn't sitting in the lobby the entire time. 

As I sat in the waiting room a woman says to me, "Oh I love your haircut." 

She got up immediately and came over to me. 

Now paranoid Peg is sitting there as this woman gets closer I recoil and move back and she grabs my head and is moving it. WTF?  

I pulled away and asked nicely what the hell she was doing. 

She says, "Oh my God I'm sorry, I'm a hairstylist and I wanted to see this cut. Instinct you know. That was just habit - you aren't my client. I'm so sorry"  

She went back to her seat with a red face. 

I could tell she couldn't believe she did it either.

"I would have moved my head if you asked, I say to her. But I do get now why you moved my head the way you did, just like my hairstylist would."

She sat down and I'm laughing because I understood her, but honestly how damn weird. Because I could tell she was mortified I let it go. She apologized a few times. (Thank God we were all masked)

She asked where I got it cut. We had a nice long conversation while waiting to be called. But man, I'll never forget this event, it was so weird. I am apparently having a great hair week because yesterday at Carmax a woman who walked past me, then walked backwards toward me said, "Love your hair" and then walked away. 

Geez, that was nice. Lose an eye get a good hair day.

I am called to the back after a short wait and can leave the crazy woman.

A nice young man did all kinds of looking at my eye. We also laughed a lot. I was with him for well over an hour. He had a small 1970s afro which I complimented him on. I said I'm old enough to be your mom so I remember this style from back in the day only in 2022 you're missing a pick stuck in your hair and a pair of platform shoes and bell-bottoms. He told me he dressed like that for a Halloween party. He saw a photo of his father dressed like that with "love beads" and thought it was hysterical so he went with it. I told him he looked good. And he really did! C'mon who remembers Love Beads? I had 'em. 😊

He did tests and a slew of things I've had done before. Even another eye test. 

But when they put the thing with the holes over my eye and I'm to read the letters all I see with that eye is snow. Like in the old days when TV went off the air and you just had snow. That is what I see when they put those things with the tiny holes over my eye. Flips me out each time. I find it scary. This young man was so nice and very kind and concerned for my comfort. I noticed a slight NY accent and asked where he was from knowing full well he was from Queens. 

He looked away from the computer and said, "still have my accent?"  

I laughed and said I am so missing the north that I heard it and it felt like a warm hug. It is ever so slight. We shared our stories and that calmed me a bit I admit.

Then the Dr. comes in. He is wearing a pair of scrubs and a long white lab coat with canvas Converse sneaker from back in the day. He was a tall skinny guy and incredibly personable. We talked about my journey with this mass I've named Betty. 

He asked a ton of questions and LISTENED to the answers. That is rare. 

He put me through more hoops and tests.

Then he walked me to another area for more photos and a needle in my arm with iodine for these pictures. They blind you with a light and geez that was fun. 

I had numbing drops, dilation drops, and other drops but I don't recall what they did.  I had a needle in my arm with iodine. Then I cut the bridge of my nose.  

Clumsy Peg needed to move the seat up because they wanted me closer but my feet didn't touch the ground. The tech is behind the machine and no one is there, so with my stomach, I moved myself forward. (Ab work out) But when I lifted my head I banged into a metal rod on this machine. It began to bleed ever so slightly. The tech was freaking out when he heard the crack of my face hitting the rod. 

I told him I was fine. I had a kleenex from all the drops in my eye and I just wiped it off. It stopped after that and was only a small-looking cut and no more bleeding. What an idiot I am! A short idiot now with a cut on the bridge of my nose and a bump and it's sore. 

After these tests, I sat with my doctor again. I have to share that he was a little too giddy about ole Betty. But before we go further he wants all the tests that were done at the Retina Ctr of Washington. They did oncology testing as well as all these crazy tests on my eye. Like the one where they put a dye in my arm and I saw colors everywhere. The man in front of me was purple. Everyone was a color it was wild. 

He told me he wants to read all of this before he orders more testing. Not all my pictures and paperwork was sent. 

He believes if this is not cancer he knows what it is. I don't believe for a minute this is cancer. 

I got the impression he doesn't either but he wants to check off all the boxes. 
I've been through all that but I understand why he wants to rule that out. Besides having this for 3 years I would think I'd be pretty sick by now if it were. 

Then again what do I know, so maybe not.

He told me some options. I swear he was downright giddy. 

I can fix this he kept saying. He was excited. 

I didn't share in his enthusiasm, but he was cute. 

It reminded me of a very old Grey's Anatomy when the doctors finally have something they read about in med school and now they have it in real life. He was that giddy. He mentioned that sometimes if this is inflammation as suspected he will give oral medication to suppress your immune system. 

That will deflate this apparently. 

He explained how it worked on a child recently who had great success.

He didn't think I'd be any different. BUT he wants to see all the testing first. 
But then he said, "we will cross that bridge when I am 100% sure of what this is. 

I believe I know now, but I want to see all that was done. Was it done my way or did they do what I would want to be done next? If not, we will have to repeat some tests that they may have done" 

He repeated that he didn't want me to pay for it all again if they did it and I must say I appreciated that.

The first thing that went through my mind was my trip north in 3 weeks. 

If my immune system is suppressed should I be on a plane? 

Should I be around a lot of people? I would think the answer is a big fat no on this with covid. I did not ask because I felt I should just move forward and if we come to that I will ask his thoughts on this for certain. 
I go back in 2 weeks after he's had the time to review all the documentation and photos I signed the release forms for him to get. 

So that is what is happening with Betty. In the meantime, I have drops (steroids) to put in my eye 3x a day. They burn like hell. 

But if it works I just don't care. I just wish to see again!