Old 04-23-2014, 05:36 PM
  # 12 (permalink)  
Lance40
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: canada
Posts: 748
I lost years of my young adult life due to an irrational medical fear. When I was a young teenager I found a lump on my testicle, and after much research I became convinced I had cancer. I was so scared to actually be diagnosed that I lived for years under a cloud of anxiety without ever telling anyone. Every happy family event or holiday my heart broke because I thought I wouldn't live to see it the next year, and I couldn't bear the thought of the pain it would cause my family. My only hope was that when the cancer finally spread that the end would come quickly.

I lived like that for years and don't remember the circumstances leading up to it, but I remember finally going to a doctor and finding out with relief that he didn't think it was anything to worry about unless it got bigger. Would you guess that somehow after all those years within a month the lump had doubled in size. I went into full blown panic and somehow found my way to the doctor again.

I was sent to a specialist in the city, and by that time I had done so much research that on the complaint chart they gave me I wrote a detailed essay. I had read about all the cancer tests they do, so when they took me to a room and there were full IV bags and various instruments I knew the day had finally arrived. The doctor walked in with a chuckle and said he had never seen such a detailed patient complaint and that he knew without even examining me that I had a harmless cyst.

25 years later and I still have the lump that serves as a reminder of how foolish it was to lose most of my teenage years in a fog of irrational fear. It was also foolish because if it had turned out to be bad news I could have needlessly cost myself my life because testicular cancer is almost always curable at many stages - unless of course it really was too late.

I wish you all the best. Chances are you are going to be just fine, and I venture to say that no matter the outcome it will be better than your fears.
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