A lesson learned?

Throughout my university career, I was privy to a myriad of odd medical stories. One of my favorite stories from university was told to me by a pathologist's assistant who worked in a cancer clinic for many years. He told us the story of an old farmer who arrived in the cancer clinic with a huge tumour growing out of his ear and sitting on his shoulder.

He explained that the farmer didn't come in to the doctor because of the tumour. He'd somehow learned to live with it. What had brought him in was a strange and highly annoying symptom. He constantly heard a scratching noise in his ear and it was driving him insane.

When they removed the tumour and had it in the lab to make blocks, they discovered the reason for the scratching. Tumours are primitive things and don't often have well established venous structures - so a tumour this large had begun to rot on the inside. The source of the scratching noises? Maggots. They surmised that - being a farmer - he'd spent time in the field, in the dirt and wind and flies had made their way in and set up house.

Its a pathetic story, a disgusting story - but it holds an incredibly valuable lesson. Don't ignore something small that can be easily fixed until it is as large as tumour sitting on your shoulder.

With that in mind...I'm determined to phone the MS clinic tomorrow to ask them for an appointment.