I have been very aware for most of my life that I am a skin cancer poster child just waiting to happen. I have super-fair skin, blue eyes – and I’m pretty sure my original hair color is some variety of blonde, though at this point I’d be hard-pressed to tell you what shade of blonde, exactly. So we’ll just say that it’s blonde-ish. Blonde-esque, if you will.
When I was a little girl I had three or four really bad sunburns – mostly on my shoulders and back – and when I was a teenager I got a sunburn so awful that I threw up fourteen times ON A VAN on the way home from a church retreat. When I was eighteen I decided to try my luck with tanning beds, stayed in one called Bora Bora for all of seventeen minutes, then suffered a sunburn so severe that I could not bend my knees for three days.
And let me tell you: after that Bora Bora tanning bed sunburn? I stayed inside for the next fifteen years.
Anyway, I know that because of my sunburn history (sidenote: I have never had a tan in my life – the closest I have ever come to “tan” is one summer when I turned a light shade of beige) I need to be super vigilant in terms of wearing sunscreen and checking my skin from time to time to make sure that nothing has exploded or started to resemble a Rorshach test. There have been a couple of times when something has looked suspicious to me, I’ve had a doctor take a look at it, and it turned out to be nothing. For the last four or five years, everything skin-wise has appeared to be pretty normal.
Until last summer.
Last summer I found myself outside a lot at pools and beaches and whathaveyou, because the funny thing about young children is that they enjoy all the water and the splashing and the sliding and the etc. and the so forth and the so on. And one day last year, when I was sitting by a pool at Gulf Shores watching Alex go up and down a water slide approximately 248 times in a one-hour timespan, I noticed something funny on my left leg. It was a pretty sizeable bump – but definitely not a bug bite. And definitely not something that had been there for a long time.
IT’S HAPPENED, I thought. I HAVE THE SKIN CANCER. And because I am deeply mature and incredibly proactive when it comes to my own medical care, I determined that whatever it was could wait. Which means I did absolutely nothing about the place on my leg (unless you count ignoring it). The ignoring became even easier when cold weather hit and I wasn’t wearing shorts anymore. I just figured I’d deal with it in the spring or the summer or maybe sometime in 2015. Since I don’t have anything on the calendar for 2015, that seemed like an excellent time to deal with The Bumpy Mole-Type Thing On My Leg. You know, if nothing else came up.
Over the last couple of weeks, though, the bumpy mole-ish thing has really worried me. Weekend before last I made the mistake of consulting Google about “new mole on leg,” and that was a TERRIBLE decision on my part. Within five minutes I was convinced that I only had hours to live, and it never even crossed my mind that I might be overreacting to the fact that I HAD SELF-DIAGNOSED AN ALLEGED MEDICAL PROBLEM WITH GOOGLE. Because all I could think was that if Google said it, IT MUST BE TRUE.
The next week Melanie‘s hubby found out that he had basal cell carcinoma, and as Mel and I discussed the details of his diagnosis on the phone, I knew that I had to call the doctor about my bumpy mole-ish thing. I didn’t want to call the doctor, because I’m one of those annoying people who would rather avoid bad news altogether than just confront an unpleasant-ish situation head-on. However, I decided that I’d wait until I got back from Pittsburgh to make an appointment, mainly because I didn’t want to ruin my trip by going to the doctor before I left town and having to deal with the inevitable bad news when my doctor confirmed THE GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS. So I went to Pittsburgh. And I thought about that stupid bumpy mole-ish thing pretty much the whole time I was there. Dang it.
After I got home I spent most of Monday dreading calling the doctor. So instead I called Melanie and talked to her for no less than thirty minutes about how I didn’t want to call the doctor. I felt like it was okay to do that since the week before we spent at least thirty minutes talking about how Google told Melanie that she had some sort of life-threatening throat condition. Really, it is beyond fortunate that we met on the internet a few years ago because I tell you, we have walked through AT LEAST 15 self-diagnosed medical traumas together. None of those medical traumas turned out to be, you know, REAL, but I find that it’s helpful to have friends who will support you through every bit of your crazy. Thank goodness we found each other.
At some point Monday afternoon it dawned on me – and I have NO IDEA why, except that maybe God was tired of listening to me pray about the bumpy mole-ish thing AND NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT – that the enemy counts on the fact that we won’t face our fears. He banks on it. And for whatever reason, the notion that the devil would delight in all my worry and anxiety just TICKED ME OFF. So I picked up that phone and called that doctor and made an appointment for Wednesday morning at 9.
And then I’m pretty sure I cried.
I was 42 kinds of nervous when I woke up Wednesday, but I also felt relieved that I was going to finally find out the truth and nothing but the truth regarding That Thing On My Leg – ALMOST ONE YEAR AFTER I FIRST DISCOVERED IT, mind you. I made it to the doctor’s office on time, filled out the paperwork, walked back to the examination room, told the nurse why I was there, then waited for the doctor with my heart beating 90 to nothing. Scared to death. Wishing I could jump off of that table and run for the hills.
The doctor came into the room, and I told her about another skin-related something that I’ve also been neglecting to get checked. She told me how she could make it all better, and then I said, oh-so-hesitantly, “I also…have…this new mole…on my leg.” I pointed to it. And no kidding, y’all: she looked at it for less than two seconds and said, “Oh that? That’s not a mole. That’s a keratosis. I can freeze it off before you leave today. Nothing to it.”
I immediately heard two voices in my head: my husband, saying I TOLD YOU IT WAS FINE, and Melanie, laughing hysterically because GOOGLE FOILED ME AGAIN.
So now I have this super-ugly place on my leg where the doctor used that liquid nitrogen stuff to freeze the keratosis in its tracks, and it makes me shudder a little bit every time I see it because, well, it’s nasty. But it’s fine. I know that now. I’m SO glad I got it checked. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, only the irony is that the weight never was really even there because NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH ME, MY WORD AT THE WASTED WORRY-RELATED ENERGY.
Finally, I would just like to say that my hypochondria and I hope you have an absolutely wonderful weekend. We’ll be right here – staying far, far away from the Google.
Glad to hear it was “nothing”. Growing up before the internet, I would read my mom’s medical diagnostic book. I would have symptoms and instead of telling my parents about it, I would look it up. I always thought I would have some terrible disease that turned out to be something minor. Mom hid the book after I came to her crying that I was hemorrhaging. My period had started for the first time.
Don’t worry Boo! I do the same sorta crazy to myself as well.
Dontcha hate that?
I envision the worst…..and then feel so dumb when God brings me back to reality. What a doofus!
So glad you went and found everything OK!
Yaahoo! God is good!
Glad you’re okay! And maybe you even learned from it? Until the next time you consult Google that is ;)
I had to laugh at this because this is so me. I put off going to the doctor for 2 years. And then I was given a huge guilt trip lecture and finally gave in and made an appointment. Thankfully yours turned out to be nothing. It took another 6 months and 3 doctors after I gave in and went for one to finally figure out what is wrong with me. Now I have 4 doctors on speed dial on my phone.
As I read this all I could think is that we are both insane.
Oh, I so resemble this post! LOL
I ended up in the ER a month or so ago because I had a severe pain in my chest and Google indicated that it was probably a pulmonary embolism. Given that I really felt there was only a very small probability that said PE would respond to the Tylenol or Tums housed in my medicine cabinet, I took myself and my PE right down to the ER. Cause you know, my 4 small kids don’t need the trauma of watching their mama die while watching Food Network Challenge on a Sunday afternoon….
And about 5 hours and numerous x-rays and lab tests later, the ER doc indicated that I probably had a virus that settled in my chest wall between my ribs. And guess what…the course of treatment he prescribed? Tylenol.
My googler is officially disabled. And from my hypochondria to yours….have a lovely weekend as well. ;P
Staci
praise God it wasn’t something bad.
I’m so glad everything is fine with you! :) I did the same thing last summer. Saw two spots on my very fair legs right before we were to go to the beach. I went and had them checked out. The dermatologist told me they were keratosis!! Or spots that come with age. Oh great! :)
So glad that all is well!
I have to say that on more than one occasion when I’ve been tempted to google one symptom or another, I’ve thought about your story about “diagnosing” your husband w/ “upper rib fat cancer”, and promptly reminded myself to run. away. from. the. computer. :)
So I just choose to ignore it altogether. It’s much better that way! :)
Oh I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only google hypochondriac doctor out there! I was convinced I had some kind of eye disease because my eyes were hurting and I couldn’t see very well. Turns out I just had sinus pressure and my Contacts were in the wrong eye! The eye doctor actually laughed at me. Glad you’re ok!!
I’m probably dying of some sort of serious disease at this very moment, but my husband always insists that it’s “just gas”.
I sure am glad you don’t have cancer though…I would really miss peeing my pants every time I read your blog. You are a hoot! HA!
Have a great weekend!! :)
My sister is a skin cancer survivor. They discovered it during her third pregnancy, which actually saved her life, since your skin changes more rapidly during pregnancy (and they caught it earlier).
Glad to hear that you were simply diagnosed with WebMD Overanalysis.
I used Google to correctly diagnose my 2 month-olds clogged tear duct … of course, I CHOSE that diagnosis over the ones that convinced me that, if I went with them, my daughter would be blinded for life and walk with a limp.
Sigh.
Sometimes I wonder if 24/7 access to all this information is in my best interest ;)
When I was taking AP history in high school, my family went to the beach the weekend before our big AP exam. I got involved in my studying on the beach and forgot to turn over for, oh, a good three hours. Finally a totally stranger walking by tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I think you need to flip over, sweeheart.”
Well.
I took that exam in my bathing suit. Sitting on the edge of my chair, with just the smallest amount of my rump actually holding me onto the chair. And I only scored a 2 out of 5, so I got fried for NOTHING.
I’ve been a lurker of yours for quite some time, coming over here to laugh and snort and pee my pants daily. Had to tell you I just love this post.
I’m so glad you went and got it checked out and found out it was nothing! I just had to laugh while reading your post because although I do tan pretty well, I’ve had my share of burns over the years and my attitude was kinda like yours “if I just ignore it, it will go away or everything is just fine.” I do medical transcription and let me tell you that’s about just as bad as Google – I can type about stuff and think “Dear Lord, that’s my same symptoms. I must have _______.” Or I can definitely help diagnosis my family and friends with stuff I’ve typed about!! Anyhoo, I finally went last fall and got several spots checked out and they were all benign. Truly I was never more relieved, but I totally agree with the statement that satan gets the victory when we live in fear and I knew that I had to face up to this. I still enjoy being out by the pool and the beach, but I definitely wear sunscreen and I plan on getting checked every few years!
You are the funniest person EVER.
I have self diagnosed diabetes, cancer, and aneuyrism’s several times ever since google was invented, and apparently google always foils me too.
No kidding!? I did that “tan”-til-you-vomit-in-the- church-van-thing too! And then peeled for England the next Saturday night at my first Prom. A 90-lb molting lizard (still red as a beet, mind you) in an ice blue brocade Jessica McClintock. Needless to say, I wasn’t any part of the Prom’s royalty that year.
I freak out about every little bump or mark, too. I’ve got one I need to have checked out right above my left eyebrow and I just told Al this morning, “Oh, I’ll give it another week or two and see what it does.” Like it’s just gonna quietly pack its little pre-cancerous bags and walk off my face one night while I’m asleep.
You’ve inspired me. I’ll call the dermatologist Monday.
I can so totally relate to the skin thing. I am as pale as vanilla ice cream and the closest thing to a tan that I ever have is when my freckles all sort of bunch together to give me a bit of color.
My husband found a “spot” on my back (where I never look…not that I look at the front all that much either. Still too much winter fat for me) and kept telling me to go to the doctor. Um…so I ignored him. Til Memorial Day when the tone of his voice changed when he talked about “the spot.” (apparently the spot installed a parking garage or some such appendage and became increasingly larger. I wouldn’t know. I still haven’t seen it.) Anyway, I called the drs office who informed me that they don’t see new patients until September. At least that’s what they said til I described “the spot.” Then they said, oh, we’ll see you tomorrow. (insert theme from Jaws here.) Long story short, it was THE SKIN CANCER. (and I didn’t even get a tan. I feel cheated.) anyhoo, I am now the proud owner of a 4 inch scar on my back and a deathly fear of the sun. (which will play havoc with my vitamin D deficiency.) I am glad that your “bump” turned out to not be a “spot.” And now I’m going to go google vitamin D deficiency and see what happens!
I have just come upon your blog for the first time and I think this post has just earned you a new reader! I too am a skin cancer poster child, fair skin, several really bad burns in my younger years, and I am fairly convinced that at some point I will have to deal with the consequences. That is why I go to my dermatologist every year for a checkup.
And I also self diagnose and never once has the ominous results actually been correct. My husband has imposed a ban on web md and now if I think something is really wrong, I have him look it up so he can filter out all the unlikely possibilities and tell me that I’m fine. It just works better that way.
Thanks for providing perspective and a sympathetic chuckle today. So glad you are okay.
You crack me up! As a redhead I too am a skin cancer poster child although I have to say, the tanning bed never really appealed. I may have a slight edge on you there. To the extent that anyone white as a glass of milk can have an edge in this scenario. After unnecessarily freaking myself out with the Web MD while pregnant (how stupid am I ?!) I just refuse to Google the medical conditions anymore! Glad to hear everything’s OK!
A Fellow Member of the Stupid Floppy Hat Brigade!
Oh my goodness, you have no idea how timely this is! I am having Moh’s surgery next month for basal cell and had an excision for a spot on my back this week. Been freaking out lately and “web diagnosing” a spot on my face. Thank you for this post. Your blog cracks me up! Take Care and thanks for brightening up my day with your blog, it is one of my favorites!
So glad it wasn’t a skin cancer.
But as one who had a keratosis (I think it was one of my first blog posts in Jan 2008), I have to ask if your doctor gave you The Pamphlet.
The one that says that keratosis is also known as something else.
Barnacles of Old Age.
Welcome to the club.
So glad you are all good in the skin department. Have to tell you though, the first thing this hypocondriac did was look up “keratosis” on google. Then realized what I had done. Some things are incurable I guess.
Cracking me up! I also was at the dermatologist on Wednesday morning thinking the same exact things to myself about a spot on my face. Mine also had to be frozen off. I’ve been stressing about that spot for at least 6 months! What a weight to have off. Glad everything turned out well for you!
I am very thankful you are alright and glad you finally did go to the Dr. It is scary for us to trust Dr. Google!
Blessings today and always,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22
About halfway through your post I started thinking, “I bet she has one of those ugly flat gray things.” Yep. I have one too, but it’s not visible unless you’re married to me (if you know what I mean). :) It scared me at first, too, so I asked my dr. one time and got the same reaction. “Oh, that.”
Glad it was nothing.
I LOVED this post! We are only different, in that I RUSH to the doctor at the first sign of things. I’m paranoid! My friend made a mug for me this year… on one side:
I self-diagnose on the internet.
On the other side:
I’m a cyberchondriac!
Glad you’re ok!!!
I’m so glad it was nothing!
Oh, I am the same way… (Sigh).
And I had the same experience on a youth trip… (YUK.)
And I am so thankful for you, REALLY.
Oh, i can SO relate to this. I have scared myself silly more times than i can count, and i even had myself convinced that i had ovarian cancer after watching an ER episode and then googling SYMPTOMS OF OVARIAN CANCER. Glad it all turned out okay for you!
I literally have tears in my eyes right now from reading all these comments. This is so funny. Skin cancer is not funny though and I’m very happy you only have a keratosis. Now I’m going to google that and find out if I have it too.
I’m pretty good at the hypochondria thing myself. Just ask my husband. I had a cramp in my leg this morning and had myself convinced that it was a blood clot.
PS On a completely unrelated note, I have a recipe for Mom’s Apple Cake on my blog today. You might like it. It’ll take your mind off your case of the keratosis! (I only tell you about it because I know you like cakes! People love this cake!)
http://baileysleaf.blogspot.com/2009/06/betty-crocker-baking-clinic.html
I hear ya! I have the same thing on my leg. And I do the same thing with WebMD. Why is it that whenever I search their site, the result always has some sort of cancer in it? Sheesh!
I am so like you with the fair skin thing. If I’m in the sun more than 2.3 seconds I’m red, red, red. I too had bad sunburns growing up.
Glad you’re OK though!! : )
Hey! So proud that you stood up to that ‘ol satan and went to the doctor! That was a gutsy move, mama! You know, we cart off our little ones to the dr. for the least little thing, and then we kinda ignore our issues! I’m very proud and relieved right along with you.
Hugs,
Susan
Oh, you’re story could be mine. I go to the dermatologist every year since I am very moley. I firmly believe that every time they are going to find melanoma. Never happens, but I too know the terror of Google diagnosing.
First of all….SOOOOO glad you are ok!
Secondly….I have had 27 different types of brain tumors over the years. *wink*
Love ya girl. Happy weekend!
So glad for the happy ending! My sister has been telling me about a sermon she heard: that Satan comes as a roaring lion and he comes as a snake. The roaring lion comes in LOUD AND CLEAR, but that dang snake voice is so subtle and sneaky. Makes us Google and believe and fear…And you know, to quote someone (but I don’t remember who said it first), FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. Thank you, God, for TRUTH that sets us FREE. Rejoicing in your worry free weekend celebration.
That So just happened to me. But with a bump on my nose.
Almost a year ago I scratched the bump on my nose at the local pool and had to be the mom with a giant bandaid on her face for the rest of the afternoon. The looks the kids gave me were priceless.
I was so convinced I had skin cancer that I was almost a little let down when the doctor zapped it off within seconds of seeing it.
And by all means, especially stay away from the Google Image searches of any internet-diagnosed disease. They cause excessive gagging on top of everything else.
Glad it was something that could be frozen. My red hair and freckles will be under the big hat too.
Glad it was nothing.
Google has foiled me before as well.
Have a good weekend!
Oh, yeah, I always google medical stuff, too, and the results are ALWAYS terrible! :) It’s really scary when you google your KIDS symptoms! :(
Glad to hear it wasn’t THE SKIN CANCER.
I’ve been there, by the way. All the way down to the “Oh that? That’s nothing.”
Better safe than sorry, right?
What a relief! And here I was afraid there was fixin to be an outbreak of skin cancer in the blogosphere. Glad everything’s okay.
I’m also of the fairer-than-fair variety and can report from experience that scheduling an annual mole check with your dermatologist is a good way to kill off the internet-induced hypochondria. I keep it on the calendar along with visits to the gyn, dentist, and other uncomfortable office visits.
that google, its the debil bobby bouchay, the debil! I do the same thing Boomama I guess we all do. I bet google is something that every dr. cringes to think of LOL. Glad all is ok. xoxo melzie
Thank you, Boomama, for being so honest and transparent! (no, that was not a crack about your skin!!!) I love your blog – please keep it up! Have a wonderful weekend looking at your “frozen keratosis”. Hey, that almost sounds like something you get from too much of The Shred!
So glad you were foiled by Google and that all is well with our BooMama…
And, I love it when you say InterWeb! =)
Just makes me smile…
This is too funny! Just last night, i was telling my friend about how I was pretty sure I would never recover from my recent medical mishap and I would just have to live the rest of my life like this.
Her response, “You have GOT to stop googling these things.”
:) Congratulations on not having cancer!
I self diagnose all the time. And self medicate. I’ve had the plague no fewer than 12 times in the last 5 years.
I’m awfully glad you’re gonna live. :)
Soooo glad to hear that all was fine! Can I ever relate to those google induced medical terrors that have kept me up at night an embarrassing number of times. They are funny in the aftermath.
I have been thru this similar scenario, right in my cleavage area which as you know is sometimes sun exposed, sometimes not depending on the swimsuit. Except the dr gave it a concerned brow wrinkle, shaved it off and sent it off for tests (gulp.)
When I called for the results, the nurse said, “It was a wart.”
A WART.
In my CLEAVAGE AREA.
Is there something so twisted in the fact that I was disappointed??
When my doc told me my blood pressure pills worked on my kidneys I immediately went to dialysis & a kidney transplant. Vain imiginations I believe Mrs. Moore calls them:)
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but on my laptop screen you are dangerously, DANGEROUSLY close to the Google.
In fact, the two tabs are touching–Google Reader and BooMama.
I’ll close your blog before something bad happens.
I have just decided that even though I think it would be the absolute coolest thing ever if you came to Fargo when Beth Moore was here, it’s a good thing you’re not. There aren’t enough Depends in the whole world to keep me from having an accident while listening to your stories! I’m just sayin’.
My husband has a weird lookin’ thing on his back that we always cover up with sunscreen and say “it will be fine” for 6 consecutive summers.
But ever since Dr. Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy had a skin cancer that turned into cancer OF THE BRAIN and had her doing THINGS with DEAD DENNY, I told Mr. Husband that he better get himself to the dermatologist toot suite.
If it can happen to Izzie, it can happen to anyone.
Two words:
HA HA, HA HA, HA HA.
Okay, so I can’t count.
Only you could make THE SKIN CANCER funny. (of course, with all due respect to those who truly have it)
And to Carol: The word cyberchondriac? Mercy. Awesome.
Beth Moore said in the Esther study… “Lord, give us freedom from our vain imaginations.”
Just last month, I realized my 2 year old had chewed on her fingers until they bled. She had also been outside playing in her water table that evening, and I was convinced that because I had seen Oprah that week where a woman lost her arm due to a flesh-eating bacteria, that my little one would lose her arms, too.
I was frantic. And crazy. And now I’m relieved that both of her arms are still intact.
I’m so glad it all worked out well for you. I know that kind of relief.
I have to say, though, I’m pretty thankful for Google. 7 years ago my niece who was 4 at the time, had a lot of pain in her legs, couldn’t get up the stairs, she could get down on the floor but had a VERY hard, painful time getting up and also had a strange rash on her body. Doctor’s diagnoses ranged from growing pains to eczema.
My sister’s friend and myself armed only with symptoms and previous lab results took to our our individual search engines. We both came up with the same suspicion – a muscle disease called dermatomyositis. My sister took our printouts to her doctor who, after testing, confirmed in amazement we were right and began treatment. He told her that this disease is rare and rarer still for a child that young. My niece is literally in the medical history books. She’s also fine today though she still goes for periodic blood tests.
Ours in an uncommon story, I’m sure, but one that shows that the best medical care comes from being a proactive partner with your doctor. Pray, stay calm, use wisdom and do your research.
And sunblock – always sunblock. Glad your well.
Popped over here from Owlhaven…
Can’t even count how many times I’ve researched things on Google and then proceeded to get completely freaked out, always assuming the worst. I’ve finally figured out that, sometimes, too much information is just that–too much. :)
Glad you are okay!
Sophie
I am so glad everything is ok!
Why do we do that to ourselves anyway!
I do the same thing and yet God tells us to be anxious for nothing…
Much love
Kim
Google and I have a love/hate addiction. I love to google things, and I always hate what I read. Like 6 months ago, when I found 3 hard swollen lymph nodes on my 8 yr old daughter’s ribcage. Please, don’t ever google “swollen lymph node in child”. Just don’t do it.
In my mind I had our trip to MD Anderson planned out before I could get her to the pediatrician to have it looked at.
(They did do bloodwork — 8 year olds LOVE that, by the way — which came back normal, and watched them for a few months… she’s fine. As it turns out, swollen lymph nodes can actually be just swollen lymph nodes.)
(And for the record, if you do google something, don’t actually admit that to the doctor when you get there. Unless you feel they need a good laugh that day.)
Did it HURT? I have one on my shin too. You are the honest-to-goodness real deal!
Oh you make me laugh. Thank you.
But seriously, I just googled “itchy mole,” because, well, I have one that itches all the time. And of course, that is a sign of melanoma. So, here I go — all kinds of crazy. Pray for me. FishBaby goes to the derm on Tuesday for her eczema, maybe I’ll bribe the doc to look at my back. Hmm…
Bless your heart! And thank you for sharing your CRAZY so the rest of us don’t fell so alone.
I’m glad it was nothing and I bet Melanie can tell you where to find a big floppy hat that will cover everything from your head to your toes! Have a great weekend!!!
Not a thing to do with this post…but check this out…I thought of you!
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/ingredients-meat/bacon-pops-goat-cheese-balls-with-herbs-pecans-bacon-082974
hugs from NC
Cathy
LOL! Yes, stay far away from “the Google”. :-) Good advice. I’m glad it was nothing.
My brother-in-law kept a hernia a secret for TWO YEARS from even his wife, because he thought he had cancer. When he finally had surgery, the dr. said it was the biggest hernia he’d ever seen.
I too have self-diagnosed with Google’s help; anyone who hasn’t is lying. Glad it was harmless.
I think anyone who has ever Googled has self diagnosed. I almost typed in something earlier, though it wasn’t for me, it was for my son. So does that count? I’d be writhing in agony for him, not myself. Hmmm. I’d better just call the doc instead.
Anyway, I’m glad you got that thing checked out and it was nothing. I’ve had melanoma and it is no fun. But I vigilantly wear sunscreen, do my best to stay out of the sun, and get checked annually. And if there is anything that might, maybe, possibly have an inkling to even look like something bad, the doc takes it off. It’s as simple as that. Why worry about it when you can KNOW?
Hi! Your medical story reminded me of a good laugh I had this morning. I am a nurse, so wear the typical scrubs on frequent occasions. I was coming home from work this morning, getting on the elevator in my appartment building when a random stranger approached me. He asked me if I was a dr. I said “No, I’m a nurse.” And he proceded to tell me that his eye had been twitching for a couple weeks, was this normal and what did I think was causing it??! In my normal nosy nursing way I asked him if he’d been getting enough sleep lately? He quickly described his sleep patern (not much), and we concluded he just needed to get more sleep! So apparently scrubs and the wrinkle’s around my eyes’ from being up all night made me look “wise and all knowing”??:):) It’s less about wisdom and more about sounding like you know what you’re talking about!! Too funny!!
OMG, I just came here after reading Kelly’s Korner, and this has me really LOL, I too have diagnosed myself, kids, hubby, well, anyone with webmd and google. I cant wait to read more here. Thanks for a much needed laugh.
WOW, your post certainly did hit home with me and apparently many other ladies too! Lately I’ve been diagnosing myself with every kind of liver disease known to mankind on Dr. Google–and it’s driving me nuts.
Our Sweet Father has been trying to talk me into trusting in Him (imagine that concept) before heading for my favorite diagnostic tool, Google.
Anyway, as I was ironing tonight (it’s therapy for me :-) God enlightened me once again that just like He has told me repeatedly when I’ve had struggles to run to the Throne instead of the phone, now He wants me to run to the throne and not to google.
My prayer for everyone one that commented on this blog that struggles with our dear Ol’ Doc in a box (computer of course) that we will all fall madly and passionately in love with Jesus so Trusting in Him will come before we trust in Goog.
Oh yeah, BooMama I attended the Pittsburgh Beth Moore conference and it was divine.
I just wanted to tell you I had a lump on my back for almost 2 years. I was so terrified of going to the Dr. so I just kept putting it off! When I finally went the Dr said ohhh no biggy thats Lipoma (just a ball of fat) I can take that out today! So your not alone!! Take care :)
I worked for a dermatologist for several years, SEVERAL years ago, and you won’t like what the doctor called seborrheic keratoses…”the barnacles of time.” ;) Praise God it turned out to “nothing”!!