I think that the take away from your post is that being your own advocate, not trusting any one person to tell you what's what, and that exploring until you have finite answers to things that are not horrible - but just not right in someway, is paramount. Like others have commented, I thought I was extremely well told, and am surprised that you have gotten to almost 200 posts without having told this story before.... because it is an invaluable lesson in dealing with our medical system today. A system made up of many kinds of doctors, of many levels of experience and competency, and many different feelings about the process of referral. (Which many are not so warm to except to cover their asses.)

Since you are apparently an under-appreciated and previously undiscovered wordsmith of some skill here, I would like to ask you a favor. That would be to add a paragraph to this story that speaks to the lessons learned about the medical system, the need to be your own advocate to get answers, to not ignore things which seem minor, until they become a significant problem that cannot be ignored, and lastly to have an awareness if you have or have not actively engaged in risk factors for diseases, specifically cancer, in your life and appreciate that those choices put you at risk and therefore you must be more diligent about watching for changes in yourself biologically.

Should you care to do that, I will copy a version of that finished piece onto the "read this first if you are new here" part of the boards as a permanent must read post.