SUMMER VACATION - MEDICAL MECCA

I am back from summer vacation. Instead it turned out to be my distant and unexpected family medical mecca. Now it is time to catch up on my medical maladies - five specialist appointments to make! I had seen my primary care doctor (PCD) a few weeks prior to my presumed vacation. Since I had not heard anything from him, I figured all my test results were okay. I would check and get copies when I got back from summer vacation with the folks.

I had received referrals for all my routine medical tests and doctor visits before leaving. I would reschedule any that were scheduled during the time I was away. This turned out to be all of them. I had requested appointment times for late July.

Upon return I busied myself with my medical agenda. First, I called my PCD to discuss endocrine specialist appointment. It seems that the referral for this, the most important, is absent! It addresses abnormal test findings that have given no symptoms that I am aware are happening.

The endocrine appointment is important because it address several medical maladies that may be giving clues to other conditions. It all started with my first full body scan 6 years ago. Several abnormalities were found. All have proven benign except for the huge kidney stone blocking the inside of my kidney. It had caused no symptoms! It is the benign tumor that now may be stirring things up. It was an incidental finding. In medical terms this is called an "incidentaloma". The scary thing is that another incidentaloma in a different organ was detected during a routine heart stress test a couple of years ago!



What do you do when you have two supposedly benign incidental tumors noted on two different organs in your body? Of course you want to have it all checked out and probably taken out!



As medical tests become more sophisticated and pick up more things, we are faced with a surplus of incidentalomas. The medical profession is in a quandary as well. Often times the procedures, which may entail surgery, to check these out are risky and life threatening. Then again, the incidental finding may be as well. Or it may be incidental. This is where comprehensive testing and routine follow up are important.



For the next few weeks, join me on this blog journey to incidentolomas.