The Dermatologist

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

Monday 1/17/2011

Monday

Well now the real story has come out, or so it is believed, anyway. The Stuxnet worm was created by Israeli and US government. Lol. I find this highly amusing. Don't go over there and drop bombs on Iran's nuclear plant, just destroy it from within through a virus. The war of the future is here. No nukes, no missiles, no guns, just volleys of computer viruses.

Did you read or hear the story? Iran claims the damage was negligible, yet the Times story says something completely different: "The Times said the worm was the most sophisticated cyber-weapon ever deployed and appeared to have been the biggest factor in setting back Iran's nuclear march. Its sources said it caused the centrifuges to spin wildly out of control and that a fifth of them had been wiped out."

Absolutely amazing, the entire story was, not just that portion of it. 

Well, onto other things. My dad said that in Sierra Vista - not terribly far from Tuscon - there hadn't been any kind of memorial for the victims killed by a complete nutcase. So, he and his wife set one up, I think at the military base down there, invited the entire community out and yes, a lot of people showed up for it. 

Dear old dad. I remember thinking after that tragedy occured: I wonder if dad is going to do something in Sierra Vista about it. He wasn't going to, he's getting rather old and moving around/doing things is getting more and more difficult for him. So, reading his story of how he put it together and got it going was pretty cool, indeed. 

I'll be - his name is all over the local news down there and the event apparently was publicized. He did it out in front of Gifford's Sierra Vista office. 

Well, anyway, I have a doc's visit this afternoon, nothing else grandiose or great going on today. A couple of things to do in the truck routing system this morning - better than nothing.

Have a great day, folks, enjoy life while the enjoying's good to get......

G'day.

ben