Dr. Legendary

Rumor has it that the doctor lost his daughter to a rare disease after she had just entered puberty. He and his wife tried hard to make peace with the loss, but they desperately wanted another child. By then, the couple were approaching their 50s. Though all the statistics were against their desire to have a child again, he successfully extracted eggs from his wife's ovaries, and she gave birth to a healthy baby at the age of 47.

Outside his office was a list of appointments. On Tuesday, August 26th, he had 73 patients during his clinic hours (1:30 - 4:30pm). I was #40. While waiting, I got to catch most of the story of an orphan sea lion on the Discovery Channel in the waiting area. The researchers were introducing the baby sea lion to snow for the first time when a big red #40 showed up on the door.

Dr. Legendary is a bit chubby. He sat with his left arm hanging over the back of his chair and his belly nudged against the desk. It was a big room, and there was a restless energy in it. Everyone was fuzzing about, occupied. There were a total of three nurses in the room: one greets patients, another leads patients to the exam room, and one prints out the doctor's orders. There was also a young intern sitting next to Dr. Legendary. I couldn't tell if the intern was male or female at first. After studying her for a while, She's one of those people that would look good as either gender.

"Ms. Chang," the doctor sounded nice, "What can I do for you?" he was mindlessly leafing through my medical record while I settled next to him.

"You've been here before," he noticed, "from April to October 2006."
"And the doctor then was Dr. xxx" (Dr. xxx was the one who didn't take my soaring CA-125 value seriously enough before I went to find a second opinion and had the subsequent surgery. He is also the Golden Boy, the Hot Shot, and Dr. Legendary's favorite protege).
"If I may," I interjected, "can I just tell you what happened after my last visit with Dr. xxx in Oct, 2006?"
"Your CA-125 was really high here, and something was growing in your right ovary," Dr. Legendary pointed at the number 178.9.
"Yes, but Dr. xxx told me to come back when the growth in my right ovary exceeded 3 centimeters. I went to TriService Hospital and it turned out to be ovarian cancer. I had a surgery to remove the right ovary...." I started telling Dr. Legendary what happened. "... Since it was Stage 1C, I went through a course of chemotherapy..."
"Why did you go to TriService Hospital again?" the doctor interrupted.
"Because Dr. xxx didn't give me a definite answer of what the growth might have been and I wanted a second opinion."
"Who was your doctor at TriService?" I told him my doctor's name.
"Your CA-125 value was really high back in Oct 2006...." Dr. Legendary was probably pondering why Dr. xxx didn't pick up on it.
"Anyway, there's more." I told him everything, from the first surgery to the latest appointment I had with the two fertility doctors. I gave him their names too.

While I was telling the story, I noticed how the room became really quiet. The three nurses stopped moving about and were all staring at me. The young intern was frantically taking notes at first, but she looked up from her notes when I was talking about the second surgery. Oh, the next patient was clutching her purse close to her tummy. That poor woman. She probably didn't need to hear all that. They really shouldn't let the next patient wait in the same room.

"Anyway, the purpose of my visit with you today is to seek you expert advice. I just want to know what you think." I brought my story to a wrap.
"What did those two fertility doctors say?" he asked with a smile. He looked mischievous.
"They didn't sound very optimistic because of how much my left ovary has gone through. I understand where they're coming from though."

Dr. Legendary propped himself up. However, since his belly is so big, it looked as if he just extended his belly and pushed himself away from the desk.
"I'm going to order some blood tests. While we're at it, we might as well check your CA-125." He scribbled a series of acronyms on my medical record. "Come back on Thursday, and we'll take a look at your blood test results."
"Thursday of next week?" I took out my cell phone and noticed that I have 3 appointments next week, but I'm free next Thursday.
"No. In two days. Come back in two days."
Blood test results in two days? That's unheard of.
"In two days?" I felt stupid repeating but I did in disbelief.
"We'll rush it." Dr. Legendary said it with such authority and confidence I thought I heard angels sing and saw white beams of light shining down from above.

Then I asked a bunch of other questions and answered a bunch of his questions. As I was leaving, Dr. Legendary said, "Don't worry. We'll talk more after the blood test results. You're extremely fortunate, and you beat cancer. Don't get discouraged. Keep the spirit up."The handsome female intern nodded repeatedly. Then the printer started, and the buzz returned to the room.

I got teary-eyed when I walked out of his office. It was nice to know he had faith in my damaged left ovary. On the other hand, I'm still skeptical especially after my bad experience with Dr. xxx. I'm also aware of the fact that, to Dr. Legendary, I probably mean nothing more than a perfect candidate for his next publication or research journal.

We'll see what happens on Thursday.