Faulty First Impressions

Our daughter had her throat cut five days ago.  She survived and is healing rapidly.  The doctor says that, in time, the scar will become unnoticeable.



         For years Cynthia has experienced anxiety, difficulty in thinking, fatigue, sluggishness, hoarse voice, muscle weakness, muscle aches and tenderness, pain and swelling in joints, and depression, a lump on her throat that slowly has grown large, and other problems symptomatic of hypothyroidism.  Across the past three years she has told three or four doctors of these problems.  When tested, her thyroid count has been well within normal ranges, so her physicians have told her that hypoglycemia was not her problem. 



She has not been convinced because online searches have assured her that thyroid count alone is not an adequate basis for diagnosis.  Moreover, the growing lump on her throat was accompanied by a growing fear that cancer might be involved.



         Finally she found a doctor who diagnosed a serious thyroid problem, potentially malignant.  The cutting of her throat was merely the first step in a partial thyroidectomy and the removal of a goiter the size of a small chicken egg.  It was not malignant.



         If the physicians had been more thorough three years ago, Cynthia would not have had to live with the disturbing symptoms--especially the fear of cancer—all this time.  Doctors, however, have many patients to see and hence are unable to devote much time to each patient.  So, it is easy to go with the easy, obvious, and simple diagnosis.  In this case, a routine blood test was not enough to reveal her true condition.



         Most of us are like busy doctors; we too often accept prima facie answers and solutions to our questions and concerns.  If a particular illness is "going around," and you go in with similar symptoms, the doctor may well say you have what everyone else has without checking further.  On the face of it, the odds are that he is right.  The first, most obvious diagnosis, however, sometimes overlooks a very serious condition.



      Physicians are not gods.  Their words are not infallible.  They can and should be questioned.  On the other hand, the same is true of each of us.  We need to make it a practice to, always, consider other possibilities and perspectives.