No news is probably good news

[redbird]

supergee cheerfully gave me and cattitude a ride up to the radiology/ultrasound place this morning for my followup exam (because there was, depending on which person I talk to, either an area they missed, or an image that might be a growth, when they did my yearly mammogram). This now makes two trips in a row that I've asked them to change the waiting room television: this time, when I was handing some paperwork to the person at the front counter, I said "Can we please have some television that isn't talking about breast biopsies?" They switched to a game show, much easier to ignore. [I figure asking them to turn it off would be wasted breath.]

Both the mammogram and ultrasound techs seemed perfectly competent, and everything went quickly. And then it transpired that, despite having told me that this needed to be done on a weekday between 9 and 3 because that's when the radiologists and ultrasound people are there, that they'll be sending the information to my doctor "by Monday" and I should call her for the results. My mother suggests that this is good news, that if there had been something obvious wrong, they would have told me.

Nonetheless, it's a few more days to worry.

Supergee came back, picked us up, and dropped us at the north end of the #1 subway line, just about where he'd picked us up. (This is an easy trip from our home.) Instead of getting on the train, we decided lunch was in order--while I, and julian_tiger, had had breakfast, Cattitude had only had coffee--so we went into a coffee shop across the street. It was a good choice: when I saw the water bubbling merrily away on the hot plate, I decided to have tea, and when I ordered it, the waitress asked "American or Irish?" I took the Irish, which proved to be good strong black tea, in one of those round tea bags with no brand name/handle tag attached. It went nicely with my omelette of Irish bacon, Irish sausage, and mushrooms. As I believe I've mentioned when papersky and I discussed the matter, it's not just that there are relatively few restaurants in the US that will bring a proper cup of tea: it's that you cannot predict from outside, from the name, location, or price range, which ones they are (except that Chinese and Indian places are usually reliable).

Then we walked a bit, got groceries, and took the subway home. I lay down to nap, with a book and Julian for company. At this rate, I may catch up on sleep by next week.

Edited to add: the coffee shop was very New York: a cook in a turban, and news clippings in the foyer about Sikhs winning court cases to allow them to wear turbans in various local government jobs, to go with a menu that showed a great devotion to Irish sausage, bacon, and related foods, including white pudding and the above-mentioned tea. The "fish and chips special" on the printed menu was fish and chips with side orders of Irish sausage and baked beans.

Comments

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

What, for you, makes a proper cup of tea? (For me, I think, it's loose tea or at least a good tea bag in water that is actively boiling.)

[redbird]

That's basically it.

Far too few restaurants in the United States (the part of this sphere where I and many of your other monster readers live) both understand about the water being actively boiling, and are prepared to provide it.

Re: No news is probably good news

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

here's hoping it's indeed nothing to worry about.

mmh, tea. it's getting to be winter, which is when i tend to switch from drinking more coffee to drinking more tea. so i need to make a trip to victoria to my favourite tea shop.

i don't usually drink tea in restaurants, unless they're an obvious tea-loving place (of which we have a few more than the US). even mediocre coffee can be sugar-and-creamed to taste somewhat palatable; i am a lot more sensitive to bad tea.

[sneerpout.livejournal.com]

I'm in the "no news is good news" camp. I have been thinking of you a lot over the past wee while, and will continue to do so over the next few days.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Hope the test results are good!!

Last time I had a tooth pulled, when I got home I turned on the TV to take my mind off it. A news program. With a story about a tiger which had a tooth extracted.

The part of the Catskills area I grew up in had some similar mixes. I was told a story about someone local who had been in China during WW II, and had run into the cook from the Shamrock Inn in Ellenville. I have no idea what kind of food he cooked; in my time, it served Americanized Italian food.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I am sending warm bright beams of good health and good hope!

I love tea, and your entry has made me realize I am very low on green teas right now. Must sort that out tomorrow.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I need mint tea! Here's to a calm weekend, and good news on Monday (and scritchies to JT).

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Fingers crossed on the scan -- I must get one done, nag me -- and how lovely about the tea.

The one Amtrak cafe guy who understood about tea was a Sikh. He wasn't selling any tea, only floor-sweepings rubbish, but he knew that, and he knew when selling me hot water I'd want to get my tea into it right away before he put the lid on and he was very interested in my dragon pearls. The second time, he gave me a free slice of lemon and asked me how hard it was to move to Canada.

[boxofdelights]

The odds are overwhelmingly in favor of whatever-it-is being harmless. Nevertheless, I bet you'll have to call your doctor again to get any information. I had to call mine to get the results of my biopsy. "Oh," said the receptionist, "don't they tell you the results right there?" Um, no, they don't know the results right there; they send the sample to the oncology clinic, which sends the results to you. "Oh. It's a benign fibroadenoma. That means it's benign." Okay. Thanks.

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

Yarghhh on no results yet. I wish the medical profession as a whole understood the stress of waiting better and made it standard procedure to give results ASAP, same day whenever possible. Individual practitioners "get it," but the overall process doesn't change. Sigh.

That said, if anything looks egregious at first glance, the techs usually do something right away to alert you or your physician(s).

Got my fingers crossed for you. Hang thee in there (and cattitude,too).

In re: boundaries and braid-pulling: I suspect J. was somewhat embarrassed at being rebuked -- probably thought she was being playful. It's no excuse, tho'. Sounds like she is literally touchy-feely. Can you ask her *not* to? (Like you need to take responsibility for her cluelessness, yeah, right, sigh...)

I've been thinking of you a lot lately. Wish I lived closed, too. Keep on taking care of yourself (lifting weights, etc.), and remember to let others help, too.

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

Er, wish I lived *closer*. Shoemaker's children, eh? ;-}

behind on lj as usual

[lcohen]

peeked ahead to see if you'd heard, but i cannot see that you did.

hoping for it to be nothing worrisome, which is what my results were, last time i went through this.

*hug*