Ultrasound

On September 11th, I went in for my Ultrasound.  The purpose of the ultrasound was to see if the 'cyst' was communicating with my knee joint or if it was completely separate.  Determining this will decide what procedure I will need to have in order to remove the cyst.

I was taken in to a room where an ultrasound machine was hooked up and ready for me.  The woman squirted a warm gel onto the 'fat knee' and proceeded to take a series of images.  Her and I got talking about everything from my career, to her kids, to whats shes going to eat for dinner - I really liked her. I think because we were so friendly, she decided to tell me that I didn't have any fluid in my knee.  I was shocked.  I told her that I was pretty sure there has to be something in there.  She told me that she's not telling me there is nothing in my leg, shes just telling me that it's not fluid.  I asked her what she thought it was then...? She told me that shes not allowed to tell me, in fact she shouldn't have said what she already did.  She did tell me that whatever it is, that it is quite large - 6cm already!

She told me that she would like me to wait in the room for a couple of minutes.  She wanted to show the Radiologist the images.  She told me that sometimes the Radiologist will come back in and talk with the patients.  So, I sat back, kicked my feet up and played Candy Crush on my cell phone.

About 20 minutes later, I was surprised when the Radiologist DID come to see me.  He barely said hi to me before he too squeezed the gel on my knee and was looking at the images on the screen (Later on, I learned that Radiologists don't have the best 'bed-side manner' and I laugh because that couldn't be a more true statement).  After a few scans, without even making eye contact told me that I had a tumor in my leg and that I need to get it removed.  He told me that most likely it is a 'Lipoma'.  He told me that they are most of the time they are benign.  He told me to prove it to me he would check for blood vessels.  He switched the settings on the machine to show blood vessels.  He told me that the tumor in my knee has many blood vessels.  Actually more than he typically sees in these type of tumors.  He turned to me and made eye contact.  He told me, "You need to get this removed ASAP, I cannot promise you that this is a benign tumor based on what I've seen.  Do not wait more than 3 months to get it out."

I made his last statement to me my mission!