‘He’s just seen someone out…why?’
‘Give me a minute, would you? I need to quickly ask him about something before you send the next one in.’
Trusting that Lavender would do as she’d asked without waiting to hear it from her lips, Zoe put down the phone and hurried to Simon’s room. She knocked on the door.
‘Yes…Oh, Zoe. Everything all right?’
‘Not really…’ She was breathless as she took a seat across from him. ‘I nearly passed out again today. I was at an emergency house call…luckily – at least you could call it a sort of luck – I was at Daffodil Farm, and the worst that happened was I smashed some of Corrine’s antique crockery and scared her and Fern half to death. I can’t go on like this – what can I take? There must be something to get me on an even keel, so I can do my job if nothing else.’
Simon was thoughtful for a moment. ‘You know I can’t really prescribe anything until we know what we’re dealing with for certain. You’ve had nothing through from the gynae team yet?’
‘No, and I don’t suppose I will for weeks. You’d see the appointment coming through anyway, wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes, but I get a lot, and I don’t always notice for a week or so. Unless it’s an emergency, of course.’
‘I get that…Sorry, I didn’t mean to be sharp. I don’t mind admitting I’m getting a bit panicked about all this. I’m desperate to get it sorted so I can be confident of going about my day without taking out someone else’s porcelain heirlooms. Or worse…’
‘I can imagine. The Harley Street offer still stands. I’m sure we could negotiate a reasonable rate and get you bumped to the front of the queue. If you’re struggling, it might be the answer.’
‘Even if it is a reasonable rate, it’s likely to be more than I can spare. Can’t I just have some HRT? I mean, my bloods are showing a hormone imbalance, and surely that will stabilise things.’
‘You know it doesn’t work that fast.’
‘But it will work eventually.’
‘What if you decide to try to get pregnant?’
Zoe blinked. ‘I can’t get pregnant, so what’s the point of asking me that?’
‘We don’t know that for sure. You could be heading into early menopause, or you could have premature ovarian insufficiency, and until we do more investigations, we don’t know which one it is. They’re not the same, and the outcomes aren’t the same.’
‘Eventually they are.’
‘But there are things we might do before that point which will be different in either case. I’m not sure rushing to HRT is the answer. Not yet.’
‘It won’t stop me from getting pregnant. It’s the lack of eggs that will stop me from getting pregnant.’
Simon folded his arms and studied her for a moment. ‘At the end of the day, I can only offer my advice. I’d say hold fire if you can. We don’t know if hormones are the culprit. There might be something else going on that we need to uncover. How bad was this episode?’
‘Bad enough that I ended up falling into Corrine’s display cabinet…’ Zoe rubbed at the bruise on her thigh. ‘Bad enough to have me worried that it might happen when I’m not in such a safe place. And there’s the hot flushes too. They’re unbearable. And the mood swings…all your classic stuff. It has to be my hormones; I’m sure it can’t be anything else.’
‘I take it you’ve discussed this with Alex?’
‘No, and I don’t see why I have to ask his permission to go on HRT.’
‘You don’t, but I’m sure he’s going to notice a big patch on your bottom and ask about it.’
‘It’s still up to me.’
Simon let out a breath and turned to his computer. Zoe was used to him being mild-mannered and patient, but she detected some exasperation as he began to type.
‘Try this,’ he said. ‘We’ll do it as a trial and reconvene when you’ve used them all up to see how useful it’s been. And in themeantime, you need to see a specialist. If you do have POI, then you’ll want to make plans for the future.’
‘Thanks,’ Zoe said as she got up. ‘I’m sorry for being so demanding. It’s…’
‘I understand,’ he replied with a faint smile. ‘And do you really think that’s the worst I’ve ever had to deal with in all my years as a GP? I promise you, it’s far from it.’
19
