Why are we so quick to cut?

Shortly before my last post, I developed a hard, painful lump on my left wrist which steadfastly refused to disappear of it's own accord. After a few days of pain, growth and general discomfort, I became concerned that I had done something terribly wrong to my wrist, and went to see a doctor. He decided it was most likely a ganglion cyst, which is a mostly harmless, fluid-filled sac usually attached to joint tissue. Just to make sure, he arranged for me to have an ultrasound and told me to come back the following week. I won't bore you with the inadequacies of the health system I experienced in following these simple instructions, as anyone who has had to use it lately is already well aware of the problems I faced. Let's just say that I eventually got my ultrasound and returned for verification of the diagnosis. He mentioned there was a couple of options for treatment, but I would have to go to a specialist hand clinic in the hospital for which he sent up a referral.

Now, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (it may even have been my first one), I'm the kind of person who is insanely curious about most things I come across, and for this reason I have quite a love affair with google. So, of course, I googled my diagnosis. I must state here that while I do not recommend using google to diagnose yourself with medical conditions, choose home treatments, etc etc, I do think it is a wonderfully useful tool for better understanding something professionally diagnosed, especially as the health profession these days doesn't really lend itself to answering a multitude of patient questions. Of course I was quite interested in the types of treatment available, and found lots of studies and articles about each of them. To summarise, the options are surgical removal (80% effective in the first instance), aspiration with a needle (various rates of success), and the old-fashioned 'bash it with a heavy book and burst it' treatment (the merits of which are heavily debated). Having thoroughly researched all of these options, I determined that the middle option was best for me, and after my ultrasound went back to the doctors.

This new doctor confirmed that it was indeed a ganglion cyst, and then told me that I would need to be put on the surgical waiting list. When I informed her that I did not wish to have surgery, she acted as though the idea of other treatment was ludicrous. Now, the waiting list for this type of surgery is upwards of one year on the public health system (I'm not in a position to go private at the moment, as my insurance for some reason seems to cover everything but what I actually need). When I protest that it is causing me pain and numbness in my hand, she dismisses it as unlikely that I am actually experiencing this (?!!) and when I say that I don't care that if aspirated it is 50% likely to reoccur (by which time I assume I might be closer to the top of the surgical waiting list anyway) as long as I don't have it for the next year, she tells me that they can't just stick a needle in it that close to nerves and blood vessels and it's safer to have surgery (wtf???). My research has confirmed that reoccurrence when aspirated is highly likely, but studies in the last decade have shown that if cortisone is injected after aspiration, reoccurrence is significantly reduced, so I'm very confused by this attitude.

When I sat down and really thought about it, I started to wonder why people are so inclined to cut stuff away. The second something goes 'bad', we cut it. Cancerous moles or tumours are one thing, but a benign cyst that can be drained? Do we really need to go as far as surgery, and just cut it out? It doesn't stop at medicine. If we've got a sick looking plant in the garden, we pull it out, or chop off half of it's leaves. Sometimes, this is the right thing to do, but other times, like with my new tomato plant, all it needs is a good water. At work, we're cruising along and then suddenly a person or project comes along that we don't like, and we suddenly start thinking that we should find another job when all we really need is a holiday, or a new way to deal with the situation. You only have to look at the skyrocketing divorce rate to see that when the going gets tough, most couples get going - to court. Maybe where they should really be going is counselling. In our grandparents' generation, if something bad happened, you dealt with it and moved on, but these days, we cut it out, leave it by the wayside and run. Is this really the best way of managing our problems?

Just this week, I received my first contact from the hand clinic - a letter advising me that their was going to be a long wait for an appoinment, as my condition was classed as non-critical. I wasn't fazed in the least, mostly because my cyst currently is not there. I decided that I would deal with my problem the old-fashioned way, that is I put a cushion on the desk under my wrist and hit the cyst with the spine of the final Harry Potter book. I can only be thankful that no-one was around to witness the comic triumph of initial bravery over last-second attempts to stop the downwards motion of the book, which only managed to reduce impact. The cyst immediately went down, and although the spot where it was ached for a couple of days, all was back to normal very quickly and the book was thankfully unharmed. No cutting required, just carefully-considered use of alternative methods. I am feeling much better without the help of our overzealous health system - all thanks to JK Rowling.