The Doctor

So, the girls in my family (me, my sisiter and mom) have forever had "issues" with our skin. I consider myself lucky that I never had an acne problem, but I was at the dermotolgist from my toddler years with excema (sp?), then in gradeschool to have big moles (my mother referred to them as "birthmarks") removed. After I got married my husband suggested I have some moles checked out before we moved to Atlanta for a new ministry position for Justin. Well, turned out all those summers of baby oil and tanning beds got me. I had Melanoma. I frieked myself out, but hindsight I guess it wasn't as bad as it could've been. They were able to take care of it all in two outpatient dr. visits. That began my road to getting my body (every...tiny...millimeter of it) checked by a "stranger". Humiliating, huh?!? Since then, each time I go in I preface my inspection by telling him to take off any remotely suspicsious looking spots. Well, since we have moved to the DFW area, I have drug my feet about finding a new derm. I mean, seriously, who wants to seek out a new "stranger" to "inspect" EVERY part of your naked body....not me! Well, a few months ago, I had a mole on my back that began to itch. I dismissed it thinking that my bra strap was irritating it. In the back of my mind, I've had a nagging thought to find a derm., but also in the back of my mind, there is always (at least with me) that "oh, but it could be bad...." thought. Anyway, recently a friend of ours mom was diagnosed with (a very long name) of super aggressive breast cancer that had spread thoughout her whole body. Apparently, she started having back pain in Aug. found the cancer in Nov. and has since spread in several places (please pray for her healing). Praying for her, brought me to call a dr. yesterday afternoon. They wanted to see me at 8:00 this morning......
So, me and my TomTom head to the Dr.'s office amidst rush hour Dallas traffic this morning. The dr. was my age or younger (ahh...how does that happen???) but so kind. I told him before the humiliting inspection about the one on my back itching....he immediately said that was a cause for conern...great. He checked my limbs first--all looked good there. Then to the back, within a nano-second, he says, "Oh, I see one that we need to get off today." I say, "Is it this one?" reaching back and putting my finger on the itchy one....."yes". Great. So a few minutes later, it is gone, he tells me that a great thing about living in DFW is the technology available. He gave me info on this body scanning/picture that takes these super pics of your whole body so that dr.s can see what is going on with all your moles (btw--I don't like that word--moles) he tells me I am a great candidate for it, and if I could afford it (b/c insurance does not yet cover it) I should get it. Yeah, I'd love to doc. but my husband's a seminary student...'nough said. Oh yeah, he also circled three more on my back for Justin to "watch closely" over the next few months. I asked him to just go ahead and take them all off, but he wouldn't.
So, dr.'s gone. The nurse is filling in my chart and says, "oh, you must have been born in New Mexico because your Social Security number starts with ---."
"Yes, Albuquerque."
"I'm from Los Lunas, but was born at Lovelace."
"I was born at Lovelace Hospital too!"
"Where did you go to high school?"
"I went to Hope"
"I went to Temple Baptist Academy."
"NO WAY, my husband graduated from there!"
Turns out she is a year younger than Justin and thinks she had a crush on him! As she is telling me this I can totally picture Justin's head getting bigger with pride! Anyway, we then spend 10 minutes talking, she gave me her phone number, and hugged me goodbye...how crazy is that??? I mean, different city, different state, and 20 years later (yes, I said 20 years :)...that's crazy. Plus, Temple is like teeny tiny--Justin had a whole 8 people in his graduating class...
So, as I drove home my mind went in a billion different directions....if you know me this does not surprise you one bit. Thoughts from: why did our "paths", if you will, cross at this point---is it because something will come up in the biopsy? Or, is it just that small of a world?
My hope is that it is the last one.