No Turtlenecks, Please

Just lie down on the table with your shoulders on the pillow and your head past it, so your head is tilted back.

Today Herself went for a routine ultrasound to check on that (mercifully silent) thyroid nodule she's been harboring for several years now.  All was good - the nodule did not appear to be doing anything remotely remarkable, everything else looks fine.  The bloodwork also came back right where it should be.  Huzzah for properly functioning body parts! She's been cleared for another year, at which time she'll repeat the blood tests. She is pleased and relieved.

Herself doesn't even like to wear turtleneck sweaters, and close inspection of the thyroid is so much more than a turtleneck:  it requires significant exposure and vulnerability of the neck under the bright lights of the examination room, in combination with a fair amount of pressure and movement across the neck by the ultrasound wand. The examination is not painful; in fact, it's only a bit physically uncomfortable. Add to that, though, compression straight up the middle of one's abdomen and chest by the forearm of the doctor holding the wand, and the whole process becomes rather a tad unpleasant for those who have a heightened sensitivity for intrusion into their personal space.

Herself left the doctor's office just a bit twitchy.  Barring some unusual activity in next year's blood tests (or some kind of visibly noticeable change in her thyroid), though, no ultrasound or biopsy will be needed again for several more years. Thank goodness.