Today's run was unusual and proved my growing dedication to #dietbolical. There's a part of this post that may not be for the squeamish, but I'll give you forewarning when that part is about to come up [maybe the whole post to some!]
I've had a few dermatological blemishes that I figured it was time to have checked out. You know, just to be sure. The main one was one that I never could see -- it was a mole right in the middle of my back. A General Practitioner about 3 years ago told me it would be good to have it checked out by a Dermatologist. Never one to be too prompt, I finally made an appointment for today.
So the guy does what Dermatologists do -- he gives me the once over ... twice! He was thorough, if you get my drift. And in being thorough, he examined the space between my tiny toe and the one next to it on my left foot. To my surprise, he suddenly looked at me and said, "How long has this been here?!" I said "I dunno. Maybe since birth, or maybe within the last year. I never noticed it before."
"You don't ever look in between your toes?" he queried.
"No. I don't."
But the mole that he spied between my toes concerned him. Apparently to dermatologists, some moles look benign and some look threatening. He said "Let's remove that and have it tested, just to be sure."
"Okay. When?" I asked.
He shot back, "Today, of course! You don't want to have to come back here do you?!"
So he left the room and returned in his surgical mask and overcoat with an assortment of stainless steel tools. While he was out, he gave me a document to read for care of the healing wounds. I noticed one line very clearly: "No strenuous activity for 24 hours."
WHAT?!!? I didn't get my daily run it yet! Is my runstreak doomed?
The doc asked if I had any questions. I asked "Can I run tonight?!" and he quickly replied "No."
He could see that I was dissappointed and asked what the matter was. I told him about #dietbolical and my streak and how I was worried it was doomed. He never gave me outright approval, but hinted that it might be okay and that I'd have to be very careful.
[Squeamish alert!]
The procedure involves shooting up the area with a local anesthetic, cutting out the blemish, and then cauterizing the wound to stop blood loss. His fear was that physical exertion will dislodged the cauterized clots and bleeding will begin -- a sizable amount of bleeding too. As I was staring up at the ceiling, he gently tapped on my now completely numb foot. He said "You feel that?" I said, "I don't feel the contact, but I know that you're tapping on my toe." He replied, "I'm simulating the effect of running to make sure the cauterization stays in place."
Procedure complete, I recovered from my wooziness and headed for home. After sitting on the couch for a few moments (woozy again) I headed out the door for a short run. I was only going to go for a mile, but I felt pretty good with my odd gait which greatly favored my right foot over my left, so I decided to go 3. That last thing that I wanted to see a mile and a half from home was a blood-drenched K-Swiss. And it could have happened, 'cause I still couldn't feel a thing on that foot! But I successfully made it back home where I proceeded to keep active by instantly switching into lawn-mowing mode.
So as I finally comfortable settle in for the evening, I am happy to say that #dietbolical is still alive at day #29 and counting! Heck, if you consider that my body is less 2 pigmented nevuses, I'm even lighter too!
#dietbolical 29:191
No comments:
Post a Comment