Question: I'm a bit anxious whether my new doctor is leaping to a single diagnosis when there may be a bit more complexity. My sister died of non-hodgkins lymphoma, as did my grandmother. Two more blood relatives (niece and nephew) have been treated successfully for non-hodgkin lymphoma. So I admit to paranoia. I have GERD. This new doctor is assuming that the fairly large change in swelling of my belly is due to suddenly worsening GERD. I think certainly this is possible. I've been tested for pylora, and that is negative. However, I have asymmetric tonsils, I definitely have weakened quite a bit over the past 6 months, to the point that my activities are much reduced, and now I have found out my dog may have giardia, so now I'm being paranoid about multiple things! I also have mild tachycardia. I can still work, but have had to battle to make sure my employer understands that I can no longer work 50+ hours a week. I guess, in essence, my questions are: (1) How do I get this new doctor to take me seriously? And at the least tell me why she thinks it's a waste of time to not rule out other issues. (2) Would this sudden swelling (no pain, and not a lot of passing of gas, or anything) be caused by something other than GERD? And if so, what could rule out other issues? (64 year old female, science writer. So it's not like I can't understand a detailed medical explanation.)

Thank you. I'll push for future testing.