I just got a voice mail from the Dermatologist office. The mole that was biopsied was determined to be a dysplastic nevus. When they did the biopsy, they cut out the whole mole. The good part is that there is nothing else to do. They asked that I keep coming back each year for a checkup and to do a monthly self exam to see if any new moles appear. They also want me to notice if the one’s I already have change, etc.

I knew they would find a reason to get me to come back to cut more chunks out of me

So what really is tennis elbow? I ask as Friday May 29th, I finally went to the doctors office for a dull pain that’s been in my right elbow. It all started when Petra talked me into paying a game of Racketball. Note, this was the first time I picked up a racket in almost 14 years. Also note that both of us are competitive So, I won the game after almost 90 minutes of play but lost in the sense that I’ve killed my elbow.

My first thought was I caused the injury when I ran into the wall that just jumped in front of me. My doctor thinks that it was due to the random motions that I did after not playing for so long. She prescribed Nabumetone (NSAID) to get the inflammation down. I’d suggest that you don’t read the warning label on this one. It’s as if the person filling out the form decided to check every box.

All said and done, I’ve not been able to swim, lift weights, or even go to yoga class. Now understand that my lazy side is not at all hurt by this fact. The other part of me that wants to loose weight is finding it quite hard to do with limited exercise.

Thursday afternoon was another fun visit to a doctors office. This time it was the Dermatologist. Last year, Petra finally nagged me to have a small growth on my left arm checked out. I kept saying that it’s not growing or eating much so let’s not mess with it. She thought that it was changing colors, size and shape which was concerning her. Off I went to the doctors. My primary physician also did not like the look of my small pet. She referred me to the Dermatologist.

When I arrived at the Dermatologist’s office last year, they seemed to be making a topographical map of my body with the detailed checkup I was given. Then, as expected, they also did not like the looks of my pet. They decided that it needed to be removed and biopsied. The used something larger than a pencil erasure and did what was called a “punch”. It was quite a bit whole that they then closed with a couple stitches. A couple weeks later I got a call and it was found out to be nothing. Easy to say but painful for me.

Roll the clock forward and I go back for a yearly checkup. I figured that they would take a peek at the old site and let me leave. No, that was not the case. Again, a detailed surface analysis was done and again, they found something that concerned them. I’m now thinking that if they don’t remove something, they don’t feel like they gave me my monies worth. This time it was on my back and they cut another chunk out of me and sent it off to the lab. To insure that it did not bleed, they used something that reminded me of a soldering iron and the next thing I knew I heard the sound of sizzling skin and got a small whiff of their handiwork. I should hear something in two weeks. I told the doctor that this is strike two and if she cuts into me again, I’m done Her response was that she still get’s to take another sample during our next visit.