MRI - when the money makes the difference

After ”not-running-after-day-light”,

today, after cycling from work to the clinic to get the result (7 km), then cycling to the specialist (14 km), then, finally cycling home (12 km), I stopped  here again...

I stopped to remember how it was two evenings before and to take some pictures of the spot.

I suppose this will become my preferate spot on the Danube Island.

Such a beautiful sunny today, +4°C up to +6°C.

I thought about the madness of the last ten days .... you go to a specialist doctor, he says: ”Here it is a tumor, I need to find out what kind of tumor is it.”. You leave his room, full of  .... I cannot define .... but you are sure next day in the morning you will make a simple call and in 2-3 days you go for the next investigation: magnetic resonance imaging. 

 So, next day first in the morning - actually next day at 11 a.m., because all night you just cried and tried, without any success, to fall asleep, so next day at 6 you send a SMS to you boss and let him know you come 2 hours later - you call the first clinic in Vienna where you could go for a MRI. Yes, of course, it is possible ... let's see .... 28th of April, 15 o'clock.

Zbaaaannnngggggg!!!! WTF?!?!?!? 

 You ask again, maybe is your language and your understanding not OK anymore .... But the answer stay the same. So .... 10 weeks to wait ??? To wait 10 weeks to find out if you have cancer or not?! No way, but no problem, I call another clinic, what is the problem?? No problem, madam!!

 And you call the next clinic in Vienna. 

Let's see .... first possible appointment for a MRI would be 27th of April. Sorry, I cannot wait so long. Sorry, I have nothing else. Bye.

You call the 3rd clinic. Let's see ..... 5th of May. 

Aha ..... should I recall the previous clinic then?!

No, it cannot be!!!

 One colleague, Marcela, come to you: "Look, here two more clinics, you should get something closer. But one of them is in Neusiedl am See, about 80-90 km from Vienna."

And you call the 4th clinic. 

Let's see .... first possible appointment for a MRI would be 20th of April.

 You take the appointment. In case you do not go without cancelling, you get an invoice. So better notice down what, where, when etc.

You call the clinic 90 km away from Vienna.

Busy line.

Then you write to them.

And take a break. You try to work, a lot of work at the office ... crazy projects ....

After about one hour you get the written reply, you can go there on 20th of April. You refuse. You already have an appointment for 20th of April, just in Vienna, no need to drive 90 + 90 km.

After half an hour somebody is calling you. Somebody from the same clinic in Neusiedl. 

Somebody canceled, we can offer you an appointment on 31st of March, if you wish.

Yes, if possible, please. 

OK, done! So only 6 weeks to wait for finding out if you have cancer or not.

Still a long waiting time, man!

You go home that evening. Actually you stay working or trying to work longer and 8 p.m. you leave the company, going home. 

Next day, at the office, your boss says he could try to arrange an appointment in Linz, about one and half hour by train. Yes, of course. After 2 days he says, he could not arrange this, because his friend, the doctor from the hospital in Linz, is sick .... OK .... you do not quite understand .... but OK ... what can you do???

And I further tried to find a more decent appointment.

After 5 days and about 15 calls and 8 e-mails to different clinics you give up. The choice between going crazy and taking a break or giving up is not easy.

What the fuck .... I cannot anymore .... Let it be .... 6 weeks is not so long after all.

And this is the 3rd day when you cannot eat for lunch. Two slices of bread in the morning and a banana and much tea is all you can do these days.

Alex, an old adventures friend - we met first time going in the wild Bulgarian mountains end of December 2001, one of the most craziest guys I ever personally met :-) - read my report on blog and wrote to me, a friend of his, medical doctor, would like to contact me.

Again, in my life, people I do not know or people who are far away from my life appear on the path and interact with my needs .... so the Angels' Army is growing :-)

Elena, the medical doctor, called me that evening! From Bucharest!

Her idea was to go to Bucharest for a soon MRI - but the costs would be too high, I cannot do this. Does not matter what, I cannot travel to Romania for this, I do not have the financial stuff.

So, 6 weeks .... 

After Elena's talk that night was not so nice. But at least I came on the idea to try here, in Vienna, to get a sooner appointment to a private clinic. 

I looked after prices .... shit! 250 euro for a MRI with contrast solution. In two days at the latest you get the result.

 And here the story

Today I know more.

Ten days after I was told I have a kidney tumor I know that the tumor is not a tumor (but no doubt it looks like one, being actually a part of my crazy malformed left kidney ... I don't intend to explain the entire story), although the specialist is not 100% sure.

I stay under his observation, I will pay him a visit every 3-4 months.

But the madness of the entire story is another one:

You suffer under high blood pressure and under an acute fatigue, you stopped training six months ago (!!) .... so you go to the doctor, he sends you to a specialist, he says you he sees a tumor, he sends you to MRI, you come back to him, you understand that the tumor is probably not a tumor, but the reason for your too high blood pressure is still unknown.

But 10 days you have run, swam and cycled through hell!! 

This is what I found the maddest in the entire story.

And I have different nice news:

So, can I continue to do endurance sport?

Yes. Actually you should NOT stop to do sport!

I mean .... endurance?

Yes, yes ... do not stop! It is good for your body, you need this, for sure!

 P.S.
There are some people who follow and admire me. I know this. Thank them.
There are some more people who do not like me, maybe even totally dislike me. I know. Thank them.
One is for sure: I do not wish my "enemies" to have my last ten days in their lives!