Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gynecology, Dermatology, Mammography...Oh My...

Don't cha love getting old?

You take the good,
You take the bad,
You take them both and there you have the facts of life.
The facts of life.


My fellow TNTer found out she has breast cancer earlier this year at age 32. Since her diagnosis, I've been dreading making the call, but I finally broke down and saw a gynecologist for the first time since my post partum check with Mai - and that my friends, if you do the math, was almost 6 years ago. What can I say? Time flies.

I picked a new doctor and saw her last week and got the word via e-mail yesterday - all is well. I can't tell you the relief of not only getting it over with, but with the clean bill of health.

I can almost say the same for the dermatology appointment. I was already overdue for my 6 month check and probably would have put off the appointment (see my theme?) if I hadn't noticed the new scary mole on my left leg. It reminded me very much of Ugly Scaly from last Fall, so I decided I  better get in. It was pre-cancerous and they froze it off. Glad I didn't wait.

New mole, 5 days after freezing. When's it going to fall off? Where's it going to fall off? ick.

Scar from cancer removal - 8 months later. That is a 2" scar (I'll take a little white round circular scar from this recent mole any day over waiting until it got so bad they had to excise it). Dr. Shaw said it looks really good to her. She expected it to stretch out more.
Dr. Shaw also said I looked way too tan and encouraged me to be more liberal with the sunscreen. To be honest, I was REALLY good with it until the last couple of weeks and there are definitely days when I head outdoors forgetting (or purposefully not taking the time)  to put anything on. Obviously this was not the end of my skin troubles and I need to take things more seriously in view of this most recent episode. Ahem.

So today I'm really excited to end this medical triad with...



[mammogram[4].jpg]
...and I'm so excited. NOT.


So...Who was your favorite Facts of Life character and why?
and... Are you taking health risks? It it because of rebellion, forgetfulness, just not taking the time to care for yourself? The "not going to happen to me" theory?

2 comments:

RunToTheFinish said...

thanks so much for your comment this morning. I know things work out and you are so right, this is just one I can't do anything about which makes it scary.

I finally saw a derm recently to have a mole removed and not sure why it took me so long!!

A Prelude To... said...

Hi Amanda -
I hate scary! I hate not being in control. I totally understand.

Glad you got in to the dermatologist!!! I'm now committed to following her follow-up instructions and will be returning REGULARLY for my follow up appointments and full body checks. I'm one moley girl ;-)