Come Betweeen Vito and Me - I Think Not

The first time I ever went to a dermatologist I must have been in my late 30's. A biopsy was done on a spot on my arm and when they called me back a couple of weeks later to tell me that it was malignant I was scared. It was removed and if you know where to look you can see the scar.

Several malignancies removed and many years later, I don't get scared anymore.

I hadn't been for a check up in over 2 years and, frankly, had pretty much given up the fight until recently. This time the troublesome spot was on my cheek. So, last Wednesday the dermatologist sliced off the surface of the spot to have a biopsy done. If it is malignant I'll go back to see a surgeon who will try to remove the entire area without leaving too much of a scar.

While he was at it he removed a mole on my neck which has been removed before but never stayed away long. When I was a teenager wearing those bulky turtle neck sweaters that thing was a pain in the neck!!

I also had several pre-cancerous spots on my arms and hands and forehead frozen off. Now I've had this done many times. They have a little canister of "freezing stuff" that they spray on the spot. It is so cold that it burns the skin and causes a blister to raise up. When the spot heals the little mini-would-be cancer is gone. I've had these done on my arms and hands before and it hurts but I'm tough. But the ones on my forehead hurt like hell. Don't doctors or nurses ever say anymore, "Now this is going to sting just a little?" Well, it's probably a good thing he didn't because I would have kicked him in the nuts for lying to me.

There is this other stuff (I hope I'm not losing you here with my technical jargon.) that they use with the stuff to numb the area before doing the cutting. It is supposed to lessen the bleeding and works quite well except that I am allergic to it. It makes my heart race and leaves me weak and not feeling well for days. This information used to be in my chart at that office but since it had been 2 years since I was there they made a new one and I forgot to tell them. They hate to not use it because it's more work for them and usually argue with me about it anyway.

Then on top of the two shots which I had on Wednesday I had a cracked filling replaced on Friday and more numbing shots. I hadn't been feeling well but that put me over the top. Ever since then I have about two good hours in me to do what needs to be done and then I have to lay down to rest. I figure it should be working its way out of my system today and I'll be back to normal but this weekend was a real bitch.

I'll be fine and I'm not telling you this to get sympathy. I've done it many times before. No, I'm telling you this because I have a question.

If you were creating a human being, would you give this person red hair (now mostly gray), freckles and a fair complexion and then put a passion in her heart for the ocean and the great outdoors? Would you make her love to feel the rays of the sun on her body like a passionate lover?

I sure as hell wouldn't, so WTF? If I believed in a god I would picture it sitting somewhere laughing, not in a malicious way but in a "ha, ha, I can be so damned funny sometimes" kind of way.

So, if that god is out there I've got a few words for you. Ain't no way you're coming between Vito (the pet name I use for my love of the ocean) and me! You can just keep it coming and I'll spread on my SPF 500 and we'll see who gets the last laugh.