I have never been to a dermatologist.
I am, admittedly, totally clueless here.
I would never have gone but I was told I needed to see one.
A dermatologist wants to mess with your skin, apparently.
Examine it with a giant magnifying glass; blast some freezing cold
junk at it; ask you a lot of questions about your exposure to sunlight;
ask if you have ever had skin cancer or anyone in your family;
use a lot of terminology I have either never heard before or have heard
but never investigated.
Honestly? Walking in there, I got the sense right away that this is women's world,
not necessarily a place men visit. I really had NO idea. My answers to skin cancer
raised the alert status to the highest point, apparently. Me, yes, one of my brothers, yes.
This lady had more bad news than a mosquito facing a fly swatter.
I went in there to find out what is going on with my face, not to find out that several "things"
on my arms are potentially more skin cancer. I'm not saying that dealing with reality is a bad
thing, I just wasn't NOT prepared for the list of things coming at me.
She examined my face and told me it was swollen in several places. She asked a LOT
of questions. I answered as LOT of questions. She believes my 35 years - minus some years
as a missionary in other states and in Mexico - and the fact that I rarely use sunscreen - is not helping
me, to put it mildly. She then suggested that she and I would become best friends.
Uh-huh. At $50 co-pay per visit, I kinda doubt that. However, I was open to everything she said, I received it, absorbed it and am pondering it. She gave me 60 rated sunscreen protection and told
me to use that from "now on". Okay. I didn't resist, just had some thoughts wandering around the
shelves in my brain attempting to collect any relevant information that might be stored there.
Pleasant woman, yes. No, in terms of personality, a great visit. In terms of the information given, I was
wondering what my life expectancy is. She told me to stop, immediately, the use of facial anything that
has - whatever it is - in it. 2 different things. She was spouting off terminology that apparently "most"?
people know? I am not stupid, I can guarantee you that, but in this realm, I can say I am not knowledgeable
She made it easy, there are only a couple of things on the market according to her that she recommends that doesn't have "those things" in it. I call them things, she called them names. I don't remember those names, but I'm sure in the next season of life, coming now apparently, I will be learning all of that. Or, I will just not. I don't presume to necessitate the facility of having to know everything about everything. Perhaps, in some cases, a professional and what they know is enough.
That sounds good, of course, but I am far too much of an inquisitive person to leave it at that. I will do my homework, you can count on it. You can BET on it. I didn't doubt her, though and when I got home with
my "free" $50 samples, I cleansed my face with the special soap and then put whatever the facial cream
is over it and I can tell you right now, it feels MUCH better.
2 weeks from now? I am to go back. She promised that several "things" were going to be removed from my flesh. She also informed me that I would not be working 24 hours after that. Yup. I've had plenty of flesh wounds and kept on working. The point was that bandaging would have to be placed over the removed flesh areas and - whatever. It's 2 weeks from now. I will ask for the next day off, cause' I was told I have to.
Let's face reality: she observed several areas on my arms that she believes are pre-cancerous. I don't doubt
her. I also don't doubt that I am going to spend as much money on visits there as it takes and take whatever
time off of work that I have to to get this in-check as much as is possible.
I am an outdoor person. That's a big part of who benb is. I like being outdoors. It comes from my family and the lines. We like being outdoors. If you like being outdoors in the Phoenix, Arizona area and have for a good portion of your life, well, you have also been exposed to a great deal of sun and UV's and all that kind of terminology and yes, you might pay for it.
Just another reason I want to leave this area permanently. I stuck here for now. I don't want to be in this extreme heat and sun. Blue skies are great, but you pay a price for it around these parts if you are light-skinned and of European descent. Not a racial statement, just a statement of physiological fact.
G'nite.
ben
4 comments:
Ben,
Welcome to the next level. Since you and I chew the same dirt I just wanted to let you know I have to go twice a year and they did a biopsy on me two weeks ago which was negative for skin cancer.
Your "skin" is considered a major body organ and it sustains abuse as we grow older. It is also a very difficult specialty. You have only scratched the surface of how screwy things can get with peoples skin, and it isn't just a woman thing either.
Sunscreen? Drink the kool-aid man. I wear it all the time and have my wife apply it. You can buy that stuff in the clearance aisle as we speak for next to nothing.
This is something you need to research. it is a difficult discipline so you may as well pack your lunch while you read up on it....
Your family doc is not equipped to handle what you have to deal with in dermatology.
I also have to see the cardiologist twice a year too.
This is what it has come to buddy....
The good news? I can call you an old Geezer because I am one too!!!
Cheers,
Bobby
I once bought a sports car from a dermatologist, who sold it in a brilliant pre-emptive stroke the day his kid turned 16.
Years later, an FAA physical discovered some spots that wanted a closer look so I made an appointment and saw him again. His kid had now got kids of his own, but doc remembered the RX-7 well enough.
Good luck with next visit. fin
ROFL!! Starting to feel our age, aye? Oh, you're only 46. Yeah, and the person saying it is a 20 something. Or a 70/80 something. Perhaps the older ages don't remember when it all started setting in. I am not slowing down any more than I already have in recent years, but I can still kick @$$ on carrying extremely heavy objects that "kids" half my age refuse to try. Happened again yesterday, in fact. The guy could have been 22 at most. There were 2, 8 inch diameter gate valves. Heavy buggers, around 200 pounds. I can dead lift that much and lug it around, which is what I did. He did no such thing.
I'm just trying to give myself a little boost, I may be getting older, but I am not worn out yet!
Actually, I am coming to the point that whatever these docs through at me - just another adventure in life. Maybe not a hike up into the Everglades or a skiing down the Alps, but - it's all in your perspective.
Life is short enough, I always keep that in mind, I won't be here that long, none of us will. If you live to 100 years, you have to specks of dust worth of life span compared to everyone else's 1 speck.
When I heard my trailer tenants telling me what a kid looking for me a few weeks ago said - he was here looking to walk the dogs for money - I gasped. "The older guy with the grey hair".
I'm eating it. I admit it, freely. I don't care either. I just found a new primary care doc today - not to be confused with the dermatologist I saw yesterday - she's a great lady and I have no reason to want to go anywhere else. I'm getting that all in order and then - gotta find a new dentist, lol.
But, c'mon dude, you have skills and you have value, things that other people don't have, respect that others don't get, that's worth more than youthfulness? Maybe it's about equal, lol.
ben
Fin, you lucked out, I'm sure, on that deal. The next visit does not sound pleasant. "a full gown" was her explanation. Enough was said at that point, meaning strip down and she's going to inspect it all. If she goes to Mr. Private, I don't know why she would but if so, that will be uncomfortable. But, oh well. Definitely not more uncomfortable than a doc doing a "prostrate exam".
Ikes.
ben
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