Instead of following my doctor's advice and going with the surgeon he referred, I'm like, "Nah - I'll just go with this guy, he has a nice personality, he's cool."
Instead of doing extensive research, I went into this totally blind. Instead of questioning the fact that this surgeon diagnosed me as having a hydrocele, something so rare that google didn't have much in the way of information, I just went with his word. What was I thinking???? Oh - and if having the surgeon telling me his car broke down on the way to the surgery and that he'd only been out of med school 2 years wasn't enough to make me run the heck out of there, I should have ran out screaming when he told me he had been "reading up on hydroceles last and the only information he could find dated back to the 1800's. I too, had been reading that same information the night before, because I was trying to inform myself about hydroceles. Why the heck was he cramming for the test the night before? Yikes.
After two more unsatisfying visits with my surgeon, I did what I meant to do before surgery - went directly from my crappy surgeon to Dr. Ackley. He's the surgeon that my regular doctor referred me to in the first place. The moment I was shown into the, what do they call it, an observation room?, the moment I was shown into the room, it was a completely different scene. The nurse showing me to the room took my temperature and asked my why I was here today, as opposed to just showing me in and shutting the door. I gave her my blow by blow and summed it up by explaining that I just wanted someone else to look at me to make sure everything was okay. Dr. Ackley entered and started by saying that he had just read through my records and , "Wow, looks like you've really been through a lot!" Relief washed over me. Finally, some empathy! For me, this phrase confirmed what I had been feeling all along with the crappy surgeon - he and his staff have a complete and total lack of empathy. Every time I was there, I felt like - I don't know, just like I didn't matter. I always left feeling like - what just happened? I didn't get to say what I wanted or I didn't hear what I wanted. Every time I entered the office and signed in, I was NOT greeted by one of the four ladies behind the desk. I had to stick my head through the window and say, "HI!" for anyone to acknowledge me. Just sticking my head through the window wasn't enough. They would actually look directly at me, then look back down at whatever more important than patients thing they were doing.
So - long story short - despite Dr. Crappy telling me that everything was fine, not 15 minutes prior to my visit with Dr. Ackley, Dr. Ackley said this. That hydroceles are "pretty rare."
"I know," I said. "I googled them and came up with nothing!"
"Well, pretty rare is probably an understatement. VERY rare is probably closer to the truth." Duh - that should have been my first clue that Dr. Crappy wasn't Johnny on the Spot. Dr. Ackley also said and demonstrated that the swelling in my groin was fluid, probably left behind when Dr. Crappy failed to clamp off all the pathways to the gland that he unnecessarily biopsied. He said that it should go a way, but if it didn't, he would be able to get it out easily.
Big sigh of relief and lesson learned. Just because I'm healthy, doesn't mean that I should take my health lightly. Especially when it comes to doctors! Argh!!
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