Nothing...

Well, yesterday was a GIANT mess.

I showed up early to my general surgeon appointment (they called and asked if I could be there earlier). Instead of 4:15p, I got there at 2:15p.

My general surgeon came in, said 'it doesn't feel like cancer', concluded 'it must be cat scratch' and decided that he couldn't do a biopsy because the mass is close to a nerve. He wanted me to go to the bone and joint doctor to evaluate it's position (I only found out the reason, though, after I called my doctor in a huff and made her find out why I was NOT having my biopsy that day as planned).

I sat in the waiting room there from 3:00p - 5:00p. I got back to a room, and waited until 5:30p before I saw the doctor. He felt my lump while holding my arm at two seperate angles, told me we needed to do an MRI 'in the next couple of days', then he would meet with me 'a couple days after that' and then we would discuss 'excisional biopsy'.

The whole process is absolutely maddening.

It is not cat-scratch.
1. They did the 'titers' to test for cat scratch. It came back negative.
2. The lump is not sensitive, sore or tender.
3. I have been on 3 rounds of (different) antibiotics at high doses - 2 that are specifically listed as treatment for cat-scratch disease.

I feel like they are just picking and choosing what symptoms and tests to look at... It is completely baffling. Either way, a f*ing biopsy would definitively tell them what this IS, instead of guessing...

I appreciate them not wanting to paralyze my arm, but dear God. This is rediculous. I called my doctor (still haven't heard back) and told her that I wanted to rule out cat scratch before doing the MRI. Maybe it will wake her up. I said that I knew that cat scratch was treatable, and that it doesn't require surgical excision of the lump. (Seriously, true).

At this point, I'm just completely frustrated and they have me playing puppet to fifty people. I'm not good at being a puppet.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who
can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.
--Abigail Van Buren