Hello there! Welcome back to another reading practice! I’m so GLAD to see you here!
Today, I’m going to tell you about my experience SEEING A DOCTOR for the first time in Japan.
While you read the article, make sure to pay attention to the vocabulary in CAPITAL LETTERS, because it might be new for you.
All right! Let’s get started!
Before I tell you about what happened in my first APPOINTMENT WITH A DOCTOR here in Japan, I need to share what happened before I came here.
Every year, I used to UNDERGO A THOROUGH HEALTH CHECKUP in Brazil to ENSURE everything was fine. Since I didn’t have a HEALTHCARE PLAN, I used to go to private clinics. It was quite expensive, but since I only did it once a year, it was MANAGEABLE.
So, that’s what I did one week before my flight. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT WITH 3 doctors: a dentist, a GYNECOLOGIST, and a nutritionist.
The appointment with my dentist
The first appointment was with my dentist. His name is Luiz. He was my dentist for many years, but this time, we were going to SAY OUR GOODBYES because both of us were going to MOVE ABROAD. I was going to come to Japan and he was going to move to The USA.
Luiz had also been my student for a few years exactly because of that plan of moving abroad, and I was super excited to see him ACHIEVING HIS GOAL!
So, Luiz checked and cleaned my teeth and said that everything was fine. He also tried to convince me to have my WISDOM TEETH removed because they might cause problems in the future, but I refused because I was afraid.
I asked him if it was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, and when he said that it wasn’t but recommended it as a PRECAUTION, I GAVE IN TO my fear and decided to wait a little longer.
I know, I know….SHAME ON ME!
The appointment with my gynecologist
My second appontment was with my GYNECOLOGIST. She ORDERED 2 TESTS: A BLOOD TEST and a PAP SMEAR. When she saw the results of my BLOOD TEST, she looked alarmed. She told me that there might be something wrong with my THYROID and I should have it checked by a specialist AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I was not expecting that. I was pretty CERTAIN that everything was okay with my health because I was not feeling anything different. That really took me by surprise.
As I had my FLIGHT BOOKED for the next week, I HAD NO TIME TO WASTE. Thanks to my gynecologist, I MANAGED TO make an appointment with an ENDOCRINOLOGIST for that same day.
Seeing an endocrinologist for the first time
When the doctor saw my blood test results, he said the same thing that my gynecologist had said. He also REQUESTED an imaging exam of my thyroid to see if there were no NODULES in it. Now, that really FREAKED ME OUT! “Nodules???? Oh my God!” – I thought.
THANK GOODNESS, there were some OPENINGS to do that exam on that same day, and that’s what I did. During the exam, while I was LOOKING AT the images of my thyroid on the blue screen with some red markings and the serious face of the doctor PERFORMING THE EXAM, I started to THINK OF THE WORST.
There’s something I haven’t told you yet. My mum has HYPOTHYROIDISM and a few nodules in her thyroid. She has had to UNDERGO a pretty UNPLEASANT thyroid exam, which involved inserting a NEEDLE into some of those nodules to determine WHETHER they were cancerous. THANK GOD they weren’t, but that’s enough reason for me to FREAK OUT, right?
Oh my God…Oh my God…
“Do I really have thyroid nodules? Will I need surgery? Will I have to cancel my flight to Japan?” – these THOUGHTS KEPT RUNNING THROUGH MY MIND in a loop while I was LYING on that chair.
THANKFULLY, the doctor performing the exam probably NOTICED the worry on my face and decided to explain what he was seeing. He said that there were no nodules in my thyroid (THANK GOD!), but there was an unusual flow of blood in it, which should be INVESTIGATED FURTHER.
Phew! That was a RELIEF! But I still had to see what that strange blood circulation in my thyroid and the ABNORMAL numbers in my blood test MEANT.
The doctor’s diagnosis
The endocrinologist had told me to GO STRAIGHT TO his office once I had the results in my hands and that’s what I did. After checking the images, this is what he said to me:
“You might have hypothyroidism, which is a condition where your thyroid doesn’t FUNCTION PROPERLY. Your T3 and T4 hormone levels are normal, which is good, but your TSH hormone levels are much higher than they should be. That indicates that your brain thinks your thyroid is not functioning correctly. There’s also the unusual circulation of blood in your thyroid. However, since your T3 and T4 are normal, we cannot confirm that you have this disease. You know, the thyroid is a sensitive gland and it can be affected by intense stress.
So, this is what we are going to do: I’m not going to PRESCRIBE medication to regulate your thyroid just yet because, once we start, THERE’S NO GOING BACK. As I mentioned, this condition might be temporary. Continue living your life normally, go to Japan, and in six months, repeat these tests. If nothing changes, then you’ll need to start the treatment.”
When I got home that day, I was DETERMINED TO try to make my thyroid go back to normal THROUGH changes to my diet and lifestyle.
The next week, already here in Japan, I started RESEARCHING information about the thyroid online and tried to consume more of the foods that ARE SAID TO BE beneficial for thyroid health, according to what I had learned.
The main change that I made to my diet was trying to consume more SEAWEED because it contains iodine and based on what I had learned, I believed that was something my thyroid needed a lot. Just A HEADS-UP: I WAS MISTAKEN.
I’ll stop the story here because it’s getting too long for this article. Next week, you’ll FIND OUT what happened after that. STAY TUNED! 🙂
Now, it’s time to practice your writing skills! Write in the comments section below what you think will happen in part two. Next week, you’ll see if your guess was correct.
Have you seen the article about when I came to Japan? No? So check it out here!
Do you want to practice your listening skills, too? Yes? So, check out my Youtube channel here!
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[…] If you have not read part one yet, read it by clicking here. […]