I have studied that traumatic things can be subued by the reactions of support people - for example, a kid can fall and break a leg, but it the parent/s or caregivers or hospital staff are there and deal with it right away then it isn't stored in the brain as trauma.
well, i have been having a health concern and my visit with md (who is much more like a t to me than my t) ended with me going to the hospital yesterday. Before seeing me, my md talked a long time with me in a non-exam room, to help ease my fears. Then moved me over and did as lil as poss because she knows how much i panic. So with sending me to the hospital, she already called them to tell them i was coming and what she wanted, then talked with me again for a while, asking if i had any questions, if any one could go with me....
And then i went - alone - to the ER. Of course that takes forever and I was there from 12:30pm -6pm! and had every test known to man done. I tried to call in to md at 4:45 but the office had closed at 3 so i left what felt like a futile message. then tried to reach the oncall staff to determine if she was still in the office - they were not helpful. I asked the hospital if she called in to check on me (she had told me she'd call to check on me)... but there was nothing. and i cried, feeling totally abandoned - still stuck in the hospital, the weekend upon us, no way of contacting her, alone....
When i finally got released, there was a message from md =) =) saying how she'd been thinking about me all day, how she wanted me to call, gave me her cell number, even if she was out to leave a message because she wanted to talk with me! SO i called right then and she told me she pounced on the phone thinking it was me, and that she wanted to hear every detail. She said she'd been sending me good thoughts all afternoon and that had she not had a full schedule of patients she would have come with me!
I write all this because it had a profound effect on me and how it changed the situation in my mind. Things were fine after that, i had a lot of energy (despite the pain) and was chipper and .... a totally different person than the one who had assumed she'd been abandoned. It was not traumatic after that. She showed me she cared and was concerned and with me all the steps of the way mentally if not in person. She said "Oh good! I've been so worried!" when i told her the outcome. Even tho there is more to come next week, (at this point) I am not as fearful about it because of the support I got. And also having her cell number since in the year i've known her there's never been an on-call number. Even t didn't call me back last night after i called in. I mean I called to tell her i was going in and she wanted me to call back with the results, but then i've not heard from her since and we never had the check in she said we'd have (since she's out of town)..... but having MD there stepping in and filling both roles helped sooooooooo much. Perhaps, too, because she knows t is out of town.

Anyway - a long ramble - but thought i'd share. kiya