Time for another installment of this Wednesday/Sunday night series!
Picking up from last time –
Getting the lump checked out was something that my insurance would cover – not the Organ Acquisition Fund, for anyone who’s wondering.
(Which reminds me, in the first attempt when I got rejected at OSU, I said I wasn’t sure who paid for tests. Well, I learned that at least at UCLA it’s the Organ Acquisition Fund, which is a medicare grant. And then the recipient’s insurance pays for the actual surgery once someone has been approved.)
Luckily, I already had a referral from my gynecologist to an imaging center where I’d get the lump checked out. She’d already noticed it. I was supposed to go a long time ago to get it seen. I just never did.
It’s so tiny. You can barely feel it (and only if you’re really searching – like a gynecologist would be). I especially wasn’t worried, because my old gynecologist in Boston found it years ago (around 2009-ish). Speaking of 2009, that reminds me that the doctors at Mass General saw it too with all my heart stuff. (Nobody’s missing this teeny tiny thing. So, applause to all my doctors!)
Actually… come to think of it, it was never mentioned to me once during my time trying to give a kidney at OSU. I’m not saying that to imply anything. We all know I’m a little bitter about that experience. So, I shouldn’t talk about it. I’m just putting it out there that UCLA said it needed to be cleared. OSU didn’t mention it.
Aaaaanyway, in Boston, I sort of forget if it was because of my gynecologist or because of my time at Mass General, but either way between both doctors who mentioned it, I went and got it checked out. And it was nothing – just a small cyst, maybe? Is that what they call it when it’s nothing?
I guess those ultrasound records didn’t get transferred to my Los Angeles gynecologist (as they don’t seem to be in my chart). My Boston gynecologist doesn’t even practice anymore, so I can’t call her office up.
I also didn’t remember the name of the imaging facility to which she’d sent me. My dad’s company also changed the insurance for their employees (and family members) between 2009 and now. So, I can’t even ask my insurance company (assuming their records easily go back that long) to tell me where I went.
If I desperately needed the records, I’m sure I could track them down. But being that it’s been 5 years, my gynecologist was like, “eh, it won’t hurt to have something current. So, go get it looked at.”
I’d totally procrastinated on that, since I was almost certain we weren’t dealing with any real issue. But once an ultrasound was needed for my kidney file, I was all over it.
And this is where I’ll pick up next time.
[Note: Since we’re getting closer to this story catching up to real-time, and since in real-time the story has come to a bit of a halt, I’m going to start doing kidney posts only on Sunday nights. So, I’ll have your next installment next Sunday!]