<p>Whew—what a relief to hear you’re going to be okay! Glad you’re going to continue plying that sharp intellect and rapier wit here on CC. ;)</p>
<p>driver - I’m so glad all is well, I read this thread after I posted mine. </p>
<p>I had a scare two years ago and it turned out to be a huge snafu. Bad mammagram, fully investigated and resolved…all was fine. The following year, after annual mammagram, I was called in for followup tests. Urgency by the doctor and the outpatient surgery center scared me to death. I thought they had missed something the year before. Turns out, the old records were never sent over and they thought they were seeing something new, but were actually looking at the old resolved issue. MAN! I was furious. </p>
<p>I know exactly what a week of clenching feels like. Again, I’m so glad to hear some good news today and so glad for you.</p>
<p>Brilliant doctors are godsends when you really need them. </p>
<p>I’m so glad you know a bunch, driver, even if they did get carried away in this instance. Sorry to hear that you had such spells of anxiety and stress. I missed most of last week due to business travel plus the hospitalization and emergency surgery on my S2’s young girlfriend–[Where he acted as the surgeon’s liason at her request! (Privacy laws gone amuck in Liberal Land but he turned out to be the stand-up guy in a delicate life-altering matter)]. </p>
<p>Anyway, don’t you worry. You can never hurt my feelings, driver. You write too well. Your humour is too good, darn it. I just dismiss the bits I don’t like.</p>
<p><em>adds some smiley 
faces to get driver riled up to her old self again</em></p>
<p>Driver,
love the title of the thread…totally identify with clenched teeth…
mine for a different reason…not “health” related…more mental health…
I have been grinding mine for 2 wks now…old boss got promoted… new boss announced today…hate this transition period…</p>
<p>I still think the “unknown” is what is soooo hard for us CC 'rents to take… whether it is about what path our kids will take…our our health or whatever… we are all willing to do the work to be our best advocate with the health profession…to be supportive of our kid’s high schools… our kids lists of potential colleges etc etc…we are like the duck that appears to be gliding, but is kicking ass underwater…</p>
<p>I think it is nice that a moderator reached out to driver…and driver recognized it and acknowledged thanks to the mod… I like knowing there are a few boundaries on CC…I enjoy the wide range of topics/threads… but I also want basic civility…</p>
<p>I have only dabbled on political threads…quickly stopped…never “officially” took Digmedia’s pledge to stay off the sauce…but I have stayed away… I was never clued in enough to know who represented what view…until a flurry of posts made me realize there were a lot of strong opinions…</p>
<p>I digress…I am glad Driver is not facing a Katrina event, rather a small storm. Best wishes for a quick return to sunny skies…</p>
<p>Well, I’m glad to see you can unclench your teeth for reasons of health. With any luck only to clench them again in approximately 510 hours.</p>
<p>Serious ailments to friends and relatives is what I regret most about middle-age. Followed by the Etch-a-Sketch memory.</p>
<p>I just read TheDad’s phrase “the Etch-a-Sketch memory,” and thought “what’s that? I don’t know about the Etch-a-Sketch memory…wonder what he means by that…oh, wait…I guess I do know what he means…” I have one of those too since hitting the 50s.</p>
<p>Driver, I’m so glad to hear that things worked out okay. Getting older is a drag, isn’t it?! :)</p>
<p>driver, celebrate with a little gel and temporary orange hair color! Good news for you, but now for us liberals, the master debater is back.</p>
<p>Driver, I can totally relate. I’ve had two hits of bad health news lately and have been nasty and short-tempered. I apologize for that, as well. I hope you’re doing great now.</p>
<p>Andi–tell your friend Nancy that she writes a nice puzzle! I downloaded it last night, and it took me a while to find a way to get in.</p>
<p>I snapped and posted a real kill-joy comment about a month back after getting some bad news. My grimness scared the OP, I think 
I apologized, but still feel stupid about it. This is just by way of saying, it happens to the best of us.</p>
<p>Driver, so glad all is well. 50 really bites doesn’t it? We start dealing with our own health issues, still have the kid worries and add on the aging parent. My personal philosophy (that drives my H crazy) is that if you worry hard enough, the worst will not happen ;).</p>
<p>Driver, I’m so sorry about the horrific week, and so glad that you are apparently facing only the best of the alternatives. I haven’t been around enough lately to notice that you were missing - very busy at work.</p>
<p>I have my own story to relate. A little over 8 years ago I had the flu (I thought) and it seemed to go on forever. I felt awful, and was so exhausted that I could hardly stay awake all day. After a little internet research, I decided that I must have a thyroid problem - Hashimoto’s runs rampant in my family. Had it tested, right in the middle of the normal range. My periods had stopped dead, and I was old enough to assume that it was menopause. I thought I was lucky to have escaped the hot flashes, etc. A good friend who is a doctor tested my blood for FSH (hormone that is present at fluctuating levels during most of life and goes sky-high during menopause), thinking that this might be the explanation for my symptoms. To our shock, there was no FSH in my body! There was even a note on the lab report that they’d run the test twice and it was not a mistake. My troubled doctor friend told me that she’d ask a reproductive endocrinologist for her thoughts the next morning. More internet research convinced me that I had ovarian cancer and I was up all night worrying. The next morning, my friend called and sheepishly told me to do a pregnancy test. This is the only normal state in which FSH is absent. Knowing my history (then 5-year-old son conceived by IVF after 9 years of infertility) and my very advanced age, this possibility had not occurred to her (or to me). It turned out that I was 4.5 months pregnant. My younger son just turned 8, and he is a delightful child.</p>
<p>NYMom, your story is so familiar. A close friend this past year stopped having her periods–she was 44–so thought “okay, menopause”. Her younger sister had already gone through it, so seemed reasonable. A co-worker of hers died of ovarian cancer recently. One evening, she was lying in bed and felt a mass in abdomen. She immediately went to dr. convinced she had a large ovarian mass. Her dr. told her “Good news, no tumor–surprise 5 mo. pregnant!” Her other two boys were 16 and 18.</p>
<p>Great story, mkm56! (I was quite a bit older than 44!)</p>
<p>What wonderful stories! Isn’t it great when seemingly bad news turns out to be good news instead?</p>
<p>What a story! A curse turns into a blessing!</p>
<p>Wishing you many blessings, driver!</p>
<p>Before wishing Driver many blessings, let’s find out if she’s ready to welcome them and go on Driving…:)</p>
<p>Of course I do/am! Thank you all again.</p>