Round 2 -- or is it 29?

We visited Hubby's GP today to get referrals because:

1. Hubby is willing to "talk" about knee replacement surgery -- talk is all he's willing to do, but this is a step (maybe) in the right direction.  He has found that he is currently unable to build strength in his leg muscles AND (more importantly) the guy he hangs around with (his mechanic) went in for knee replacement surgery today.  I think he's actually waiting to see how Art does -- since Art also has heart trouble -- but more seriously than Hubby.  If Art does well with his surgery, Hubby might actually move forward toward his own. 
2. Also, Hubby has developed a problem swallowing and it clearly has become something more than just a minor complaint so we needed a referral, Hubby thought to a nose, throat, etc. doctor -- but instead got a GI referral and a hospital test to be run sometime in the next month (we'll be contacted).

Why is it that doctor's scare you when you ask for help?  I suppose, in our case, because our doctor knows that Hubby never asks for medical service unless things are seriously bothering him.  Because of the swallowing problem, the doctor ran through the various things that could be wrong:  rings in his esophagus, complications from diabetes, narrowing of the esophagus, reflux, all the things that could be treated with meds just from the doctor's office.  Then the dreaded "C" word came up -- tumor, mass, etc.  My heart sank into my feet -- and, as always, I headed straight to the "bad" places in my head.  Of course, Hubby and I are NOT talking about it at all -- we're acting like everything is just fine and dandy (please, God, let everything be FIND and dandy) because if you actually talk about "cancer" you could actually have cancer -- and that would NOT be a way to start retirement.