Pieces of Me

Last week I had a mole removed from my stomach because while it didn't look completely strange, it just didnt look "right". I had shown it to my doctor about three months ago and she said it was probobly fine, but agreed that it should come off, but that there was no rush in doing so.

I got some test results back from my doctor for a routine check-up and hand written on the paper was a reminder that we had talked about taking the mole off, and that I should schedule that appointment at my leisure.

I decided to finally make the time and go in to have it removed. I was a little freaked out about the appointment, because after all, having a piece of your flesh taken off with a scalpel isn't the highlight of most peoples' days. Michael assured me it would be painless, and of course, he was right. The doctor gave me a quick shot of something to numb the area. The shot didn't hurt itself, but it did sting a tad as it became numb. She then proceeded to cut off the mole. She sent it to the lab to have it looked at, which is common procedure. She told me to call in a couple of days for my results.

I called yesterday and they weren't ready, so I called this morning. The nurse looked at my chart and said "Oh, it says compound melanocytic nevus......" and then proceeded to say "I'm going to have the doctor look at this and call you back." Um...HELLO. Does she realize how much I started to freak out at that point. You don't tell a hypochondriac that you will "call them back", you put them on hold and don't give them an hour to surf the internet only to find no answers, and the only information you can find with the words "compound melanocytic" go on to talk about cancer. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!

So they called back and left a voicemail, to which I had to return. I called in and she said "It was just a benign mole" and then "You're fine" I'm glad I'm fine...all I had to give for that answer was a little piece of my flesh.