Tuesday 1 March 2011

Lost in Translation

Today I had one of those real 'China' moments (all expats.. please feel free to substitute China for any other country where you're not communicating in the same first language as your doctors). I had decided to go back to the clinic and make sure that we are all set for starting IVF at the end of this month. Last visit we had our chromosome blood tests and I was hoping the results would be back - they take about 4 weeks here. I see them as a box to tick and didn't expect any problems. The main reason for my visit was that I'm hoping to be away on a beach for a week at the end of March (semi-free holiday as my bloke is on a business trip) and wanted to know whether we could fit IVF around this or would we need to postpone until April.

The only male doctor was on duty and I've questioned his judgement a bit in the past - mostly because he says things I don't want to hear. But I thought I'd bite my tongue and get the visit out of the way, rather than going back another day.  I got in to see him within about 30 minutes.. I know the quiet times of the clinic now and time my visits accordingly to avoid potential 3 hour waits. He remembered me.. I might have shouted at him a bit last time when he suggested that they should scrape my endometrium, but he didn't seem to be taking it personally and was pretty friendly.  He went off to get the chromosome test results and came back clutching a piece of paper that looked like test results, all in Chinese of course, which he put on the desk between us.

Dr: The test results are not right.

Me: Not right?

Dr: No, not right. I've called another Doctor and I'm waiting for him to call me back.

Me: What do you mean 'Not right'? *(please add high-pitched, slightly maniacal voice here) Can you tell me what the problem is? (as I point at the ominous piece of paper)

Dr: Oh no.. these aren't your results! (as he moves the paper onto his in-tray) They're someone else's. Yours aren't back yet!


Cue huge sigh of relief on my part! It turns out that our results weren't in the computer system yet and he was calling the lab to check on the status of the results. Now I know that this doesn't mean that our test results will be OK, but the relief in finding out that they're NOT not right was immense :)  It seems that our results should be back in a week or so and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Another post coming later on the rest of the appointment... off to get shouted out by my Boot Camp trainer :)

8 comments:

  1. Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Deep breaths. What an awful moment!

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  2. Oh shit, sounds like very scary moments there. Hope your results comes back okay.

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  3. Whew! I wasn't sure where your story was going at first, and I was getting really nervous for you. We sighed "together." But...as usual, your excellent post left me smiling. Enjoy your Boot Camp! Don't you love paying people to make you temporarily miserable (says the woman who was willing to pay someone to starve her for a weekend, in the name of "cleansing")?

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  4. I know... my bloke was freaked out when I was telling him about it and he normally likes me to just get to the point and spare him the details (one of the reasons why I need this blog, to indulge my storytelling gene)!

    Last night's torture was good.. if that's the right word!

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  5. What a moment ! I agree that no news is sometimes better than bad news on this roller-coaster. Thinking of you for your pending results xoxo

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  6. Great Post….. I read a few of your other posts.

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