In February this year, Beth Harris sat in the day surgery waiting room of her local hospital and tried to steady her nerves(使某人镇定下来).
今年二月，贝丝·哈里斯坐在当地医院日间手术候诊室里，努力让自己镇定下来。
She was there for a hysteroscopy(宫腔镜检查), in this case to remove a fibroid(子宫肌瘤). A thin surgical instrument with a lens, a light, a blade and an irrigation(冲洗) system for pumping saline solution(盐水溶液) would be inserted through her vagina and cervix, into her womb. The saline solution would widen the womb and the fibroid would be shaved away. Her hospital had advised taking paracetamol(扑热息痛（对乙酰氨基酚）) or ibuprofen(布洛芬) an hour before the appointment, which Harris had done. However, the appointment was for 1pm, and by 4pm, she was still waiting in her hospital gown, surrounded by other patients.
她来做宫腔镜检查，这次是为了切除一个肌瘤。一根带有镜头、光源、刀片和用于泵入盐水的冲洗系统的细长手术器械，将通过她的阴道和宫颈插入子宫。盐水会使子宫扩张，肌瘤将被刮除。医院建议她在预约前一小时服用扑热息痛或布洛芬，哈里斯照做了。然而，预约时间是下午1点，到下午4点，她仍穿着病号服在等待，周围是其他病人。
Hysteroscopies are common procedures – classed(归类，分类) by the NHS as “high volume low complexity(高数量低复杂性)”. In 2021, 71,000 took place in England alone. This was Harris’s third. “I’d been shocked by how painful the first two were,” she says. They had been “diagnostic(诊断的)” only – examinations of the inside of the womb – because years of breast cancer medication had led her womb lining(子宫内膜) to thicken. When she learned that she had a fibroid that needed removing, Harris’s first question was: “Will it be painful?”(当她得知自己有一个需要切除的肌瘤时，哈里斯的第一个问题是：“会疼吗？”) Her gynaecologist(妇科医生) assured her that she would be given local anaesthetic(局部麻醉) and “wouldn’t feel anything”. He compared it to “going to the dentist”.
宫腔镜检查是常见手术——NHS将其归类为“高数量、低复杂性”。2021年，仅英格兰就进行了7.1万例。这是哈里斯的第三次。“前两次的疼痛让我震惊，”她说。前两次只是“诊断性”的——检查子宫内部——因为多年的乳腺癌药物导致她的子宫内膜增厚。当她得知自己有一个需要切除的肌瘤时，哈里斯的第一个问题是：“会疼吗？”她的妇科医生向她保证会使用局部麻醉，她“不会感觉到任何东西”。他将其比作“看牙医”。