Sunday, 03.11.2012 - 11:05 am.
Last entry I mentioned Andrew sent me to the doctor to get some moles checked. I found one that was particularly irregular, very different to the hundreds I have. I was reluctant to call the insurance company assigned by my scholarship agency, but in the end they accepted to pay for a consult.
Andrew took time off work to go with me, which I really appreciated. The days prior to going to the hospital, I was scared that I was going for nothing. But then the doctor called my name, I went in and showed him what's up. He looked closely and inmediately said that yes, it was something, and asked if my family had a history of melanoma.
It's almost nothing, but if I don't remove it, it will be skin cancer. So Andrew might have very well saved my life. I'd noticed that weird, almost black dot that wasn't there one or two years ago, but I said, meh, it's just another one. It wasn't until he drew my attention to my skin that I looked closely all over my body. And I got a bad feeling about this dot in particular, although I insisted it was probably nothing.
A 15-minute pseudosurgery and it's gone. I made phone calls at the hospital but the insurance people said they wouldn't cover that. It's about $600, I barely have that amount available, but I have it nonetheless, because I'm damn good at saving. So I said, fuck them. I won't lose my time appealing to the insurance company and I have the money; let's get this out of the way.
I wrote Brother #2, a doctor, telling him what was going on and asking him some questions. He's the only one in my family that knows. Brother #1 is also a doctor, but the less people that know, the better. It's no use worrying my parents over something that will be gone next week. I may tell them once it's gone, but only because I want to blog (and my dad reads my blog) about the importance of getting oneself checked. I almost didn't.
Brother #2 was, of course, very supportive and agreed with not telling my parents. He offered to help me pay for the small surgery, but I told him I got it covered because I have my emergency funds. He asked how much and I told him, because I wanted to show him, "look, I'm an adult that can pay for her own surgeries now!". This morning, he wired me half of the total sum. I'm embarrased, humbled and grateful.
I was relieved that it was something that can be removed. I'm happy I went to the hospital when I can do something to prevent an alarming condition, and I'm thankful I had someone to make me go, because otherwise, I'd have most likely let it slip until it was too late.
Oh, oh, last night Andrew and I went to two birthday parties, one of a friend/classmate of ours and one of a friend/former classmate of his. Nothing wild, but there you have me, going to two parties in one night. Wearing a dress and stockings and boots and a colorful scarf and a coat, drinking champagne, walking around town at night, falling asleep at 2 am. That's pretty awesome, compared to my old standards. I wasn't like this, you know.
I could talk about other stuff, but thanks to my ongoing effort of writing a book about said stuff, I don't quite feel like it. But that's also a bad thing, because now I'm stuck halfway through the story. Oh, well.
prev / next