Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Clock is Ticking

Ron is having his CT scan this morning and then we wait.......his appointment with the doctor is April 2nd to get the results.  I can't believe it has already been six months since his surgery and almost a year since my mother died.  I am anxious for April 3rd to be here and for Ron to have a clean bill of health and then move forward to the next 6 month scan.  We are planning a memorial weekend trip.  We can't go very far but we thought we'd just go somewhere close.  I only see Ron about 1 day a week because of his work schedule so it will be nice to have a couple of days to drive each other crazy!  We will have to declare a no politics free zone while we are together or one of us could end up walking.  Maybe if I practice holding my breath underwater for the next month or so I'll be able to keep my mouth shut on a road trip!  I know....I'll just provide commentary on the scenery!  That's a safe subject!  

How do you deal with someone who has Hypochondria?  The definition is that it is belief that real or imagined physical symptoms are signs of a serious illness, despite medical reassurance and other evidence to the contrary.  It seems that a lot of health care professionals have this disorder.  I have a friend who has this problem and the most common infection immediately becomes cancer or some obscure parasite known only to the Amazon River.  No symptom is ever a simple cold but immediately becomes lung cancer.  No amount of reasoning will deter her from fatal self diagnosing.  Sometimes I think that health care professionals just know too much so that is why they are prone to the problem.  I guess ignorance really can be bliss.

3 comments:

Linda said...

I have a sister-in-law who does this, and whatever anyone else has she has. However, in her case she never goes to the doctor, just drives everyone around her crazy worrying.

If I knew what to do I would have done it with her years ago.

I did learn the best approach with my father, in his later years, was not to ask him how he was feeling. Stay away from the subject if at all possible.

In the case of your friend that probably wouldn't work because I suspect she brings the subject up every time she gets a chance.

I don't think it would work for me to be married to someone I disagreed with politically.

Arkansas Patti said...

Hope you get good results of the CT soon. Sure doesn't seem like it has been 6 months.
You two must be having spirited talks with all the news. Good luck on safe subjects.
I saw a tombstone in Key West that summed up the plight of a hypochondric. It said--

I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK.

kenju said...

Good luck to you and Ron on his tests!

I know someone who must be a hypochondriac, on top of the fact that she does have genuine health issues. But she constantly thinks that some symptoms are evidence of larger and fatal problems, and entertains herself talking about it. It is very tiring to spend time with her.