Health Concerns.

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This blog post is not as dramatic as it appears. What I was worried about, I think, turned out to be a cyst. The difficulty comes when there is a language barrier and all you really can do is decipher the English written down on a paper full of Chinese characters.

There's that moment as you're taking a shower and you feel the lump in your breast. Your heart stops beating. Everything seems to freeze and within a split second you see your life come crashing down around you. I have been having pain in the area for the past week or two, so the lump was not unexpected. I immediately turned off the water and asked one of my kids to bring me the cell phone so I could call my husband. We worked out the plan to call our doctor and make an appointment to see him the next day. For me that lump was all I could think of. What am I doing at the age of thirty-six with a lump in my breast. Why not me? What makes me exempt from anything? Later that day as my kids and I were walking towards the bus stop to go grocery shopping, it was as though I just heard God say clear as day and with the bright shining light in front of me, "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future". I was reminded that no matter what happens in this life, God has it under control and I need to place my full faith and trust in Him. That means placing my faith and trust in Him to work out what happens in my kid's lives. To trust Him that He will take care of them even if I am not able to take care of them anymore. 

I went to my doctor's appointment this morning. He sat behind a desk and typed away at the computer keyboard in front of him as though he was reading a list of questions and then in-putting my answers which would then send him to another list of predetermined questions. He felt my lump and said he would refer me to another hospital's surgical center. It's hard being in another country with a language barrier. I was given papers with Chinese writing all over them and the head lady scribbled the minimalist scratches in English to show me what was a fax number and which was the telephone number. I am left scratching my head in confusion. What about a mammogram? Is surgery my next step? I am so confused.

I write again several days later, after my lump has lessened. I plan to still contact this other hospital and have them check out what was there. My best friend is a nurse back in the United States and she says it is probably just a hormonal cyst. She tells me what to do and it helps to put my mind at ease. I have to remind myself that I am living in Hong Kong and that the medical profession in this country loves to assume the worst.