Silly: OT

[Guest guest]

Thought the Group might be a little laugh out of this . . . considering:

once diagnosed with Graves, there seems to be a universal period of fear as

one faces the demise of the body and the possibility of other autoimmune

diseases and goes through the learning curve of discovering just how

vulnerable we are and exactly how much is (and soon could be) going wrong

with the body.

Then, once you set aside the panic about other diseases and the one you have

now getting worse, there's the realities of dealing with hyper or hypo --

the medicines, monitoring the pulse, watching the hair fall out, skin

deterioriate, the hives, the painful eyes . . . etc. etc. etc. Nothing

seems normal.

So, coming out of all this and with the added stress of a pregnancy, imagine

my DELIGHT when I went in for my first ever dermatology appointment to look

at a mole (although the doc corrected me -- it's a big freckle).

The doctor did a whole skin cancer exam and based on my lack of exposure,

olive skin, healthy skin texture and elasticity and lack of moles,

concluded: " I hate to say someone is at zero risk for skin cancer, but I'd

put you pretty darn close. "

Here's me: I'm at ZERO RISK for something? Wow. Let's LINGER over

that idea, let's talk about me with zero risk. I " m giddy, silly with the

idea and became suddenly very interested in skin cancer, this disease I

would almost certainly NOT get. I didn't want to leave the office,

considering the pleasure one can get out of discussing one type of disaster

that probably won't strike.

What a pleasure. I'll probably go back once a year for an exam just to hear

it all again, even though he said I didn't need to

B