Self-Diagnosis a la WebMD

As I’ve mentioned before, I used to hate going to the doctor.  Hated it.  I knew if I was sick or had an infection of some sort they would just put me on antibiotics.  And most of the time those antibiotics would make me throw up. I only went if I felt that I actually needed those silly antibiotics – of course after doing my “home remedies” that obviously didn’t work out so well.

One time (...in band camp - just kidding) I had woken up and my eyes were sore.  I thought nothing of it because hello - I had just woke up!   I just went on with the day.  The next day, they were even more sore.  It straight up hurt to blink.  To BLINK, people!  I thought it would be a great idea to check out WebMD.  Holy shit, my eyeballs are swollen and they are going to swell so much it’s going to cut off circulation to the cornea and I am going to go effing BLIND in a matter of hours!  Needless to say, I made an appointment.  There were no home remedies that could help my peepers.  Not to worry, I was just stressed and it was a symptom of my ulcerative colitis.  Didn’t know that, did you?  Neither did I.  It can aggravate a whole bunch of crap.  Damn intestines… 
 

The fun thing with Melanoma and WebMD is that every little thing could be *gasp* cancer!   I’ve been trying to stay away from it and just let a doctor actually check me out before I lose sleep on headaches, belly issues and every slight little twinge of pain.   

 

I had to share this comic because it's SO much more true than it's ever been....and it's hilarious. 

Admiration Graduation

I’ve liked a couple of Melanoma pages and I see their updates on Facebook or the blogs that I read.  Although I don’t go on Facebook as much as I used to, it seems there are daily updates from these select few individuals that I like hearing from.  I don’t know them.  I’ve never met them.  I had never “formally” introduced myself from one computer to another.  But that doesn’t mean that I don’t relate with them. I absolutely love seeing what they have to say and it fills me with happiness that exudes from my belly that they’re sharing their story and pushing awareness like they’re trying to make money.  They attach links from researchers on the next big drug that help Melanoma patients.  They attach links on recent legislation on tanning beds.  They include whatever their little hearts feel necessary to share…and I completely dig it.  My little heart just likes sharing these random ass thoughts racing through my mind.  I’ve got to get them out, sorry you peeps are ones that deal with it. 

I’ve wanted to message to them, but I was nervous that I would appear like more like someone trying to promote their own blog than a complete supporter who is just trying to connect with other Club members that I respect. I’m sure they get tons of messages from people, I didn’t want to bother them with another one from lil ol’ me. 

Well, Tuesday I decided to extend a hand and introduce myself to a few of the people that I’ve been quietly following in the shadows.  I’ve graduated from silent stalker to a known admirer and fellow “molemate”.  My parole officer will be happy about that (I’m kidding, I don’t have a P.O.…or do I???).  This makes me super stoked.  Facebook is awesome like that.  It allows you to connect and chat with people that you’d probably never meet in your everyday life.  I guess that’s also the idea with eHarmony, or any dating site, though I’ve never been on them and never intend to.

Out of the three people I sent messages to, I got a response back from all of them yesterday. All of them…in the same day.  I totally cried.  The hubs was looking at me like I just read about a death or something and I tried to explain that I sort of “know” these people in a strange way.  These are Melanoma warriors that I look up to.  I’ve read their inner thoughts and now they’re reading mine. I woke up super early this morning and while lying there I thought about each of them, smiling at 4am like a disturbed insomniac. I’m still smiling, so very thankful that I finally mustered up the courage to say “hello”!

Professional MelanomaHolic

This Friday marks 10 weeks since surgery.  This Thursday it’s been 16 weeks since diagnosis and 17 weeks since I had the original biopsy.  I’m sure all of us Club Melanoma members can relate with very similar feelings: being preoccupied with damn near everything Melanoma related.  Will it ever go away?  I have no freaking clue…but I highly doubt it.  I stare at people’s skin.  I want to lecture people that are uber tan.  I want to high five people putting on sun block.  I want to bear hug then high five parents slathering sun block on their children.  This is just who I am now. 

Recently I’ve had to physically hold myself back from going up to not one, but TWO chicks that had large moles.  The first one I saw a younger girl, probably 16 years old, she had a fairly large mole on the back of her thigh – definitely larger than the eraser tip on a pencil.  The second one was a woman in Trader Joe's and she had one on the back of her left calve, also pretty big.  I really don’t want to be the weirdo that walks up saying “Can I take a closer look at that?”  I know they would look at me like I am the crazy person that I am and I’d have to go into a spiel of why I acted on the urge to ask them about their mole.  Then I’d say, “Don’t worry, I’m a professional Melanomaholic, I am here to help.”  Again, I’d get the crazy look.  I can see it now.  Have I mentioned I’m sorta psychic?  Maybe I should spell it: psorta psychic or more often than not: psorta psycho. 

My friends used to joke around that if someone would pass by with a general “Hi, how are ya?” I would fill that random person in with my life story within about 5 minutes, complete with my zodiac sign.  Other times I am a little timid and would rather stick to whatever I came to do – whether it be pick out the apples I planned on buying or renting that movie at Blockbuster (yes, I’m one of the 10 people in America that still go there).  I can absolutely be an overly outgoing person and I don’t mind striking up a conversation with someone I’ve never met.  If I have a question, I typically want to have to it answered and I would rather ask than be curious about it for the rest of the day (or until I see a shiny penny and get distracted). 

I’m curious about a couple of things:

1) What would you do if someone approached you basically saying that something looked wrong and you should seriously think about getting it checked out by a physician?  Would you be upset with the fact that someone actually came up to you and pointed out something that you haven’t even noticed yourself about your own body, or maybe you have noticed it but have just thought of it as a flaw – a flaw that someone you don’t know just bluntly asked you about?  Or would you be grateful because you’re obviously unaware of something that other people are noticing?

2) Have you ever approached a complete stranger yourself about a health concern?  How did that person react?

Any thoughts would be nice because I am pulled in two directions - leave them be or educate them.