Another Doctor....
Ready for another M.D. lesson? Today we get to learn about melanomas. Because I apparently had one... right smack dab on the middle of my forehead. Kind of makes me laugh that it was put there to get my attention. Pretty much that is what it takes these days to make it to my radar and the top of my To Do list. After a couple months of being annoyed by the black spot that had suddenly appeared and freaked me out every time I saw it in the mirror, I grabbed my cell at a red light and called the dermi. They booked me that afternoon. We scraped that sucker off pretty much for vanity's sake; lo & behold, it came back suspicious. It got sent back for another diagnostic and I was called in for the official sit down discussion today. The Dr. said it's a "melanoma that isn't really a melanoma" OK.......
Junctional Melanocytic Proliferation, within a Solar Lentigo (forehead)
(a melanoma in situ arising in a solar lentigo and a junctional nevus associated with one).
Whatever that means.
This represents one of the earliest stages of melanoma with the atypical melanocytes limited to the dermal-epidermal junction and with no evidence of dermal involvement. Depending upon the morphology, some dermatopathologists subclassify these melanoma in situs as:
Lentigo maligna
Melanoma in situ, superficial spreading type
Melanoma in situ, acral lentiginous type
A melanoma in situ stage does not exist for a nodular melanoma, which by definition, is in the vertical invasive growth phase. Desmoplastic melanomas, likewise, do not have a recognized precursor in situ lesion. However, lentigo malignas may give rise to this type of melanomas. Because this melanoma is a precursor lesion to a later invasive lesion, complete excision is curative.
So, basically, if I understand this correctly, I don't need to freak out, but I do need to count "freckles" yes, I know they're NOT FRECKLES and anything that suddenly pops up on my skin is going to be cut out. All this I gleamed when I asked, "didn't y'all count those at my skin check?" I mean, I don't pay attention to this stuff and I know I heard a bunch of weird names and numbers rattled off! She looked at me like I was addled. "Honey..." she goes, "we aren't counting, we are looking for certain things, and they're not freckles-they're MOLES. You're over 45, so ANYTHING that 'pops' up you need to tell me about because it's not bad unless you don't follow up. We're gonna be girlfriends now, and see each other every 3 months. Don't worry, it'll be OK!!" Then she went on to draw all over my forehead debating the best way to not disfigure me for life when she carves out a 5mm margin of where the previous "freckle" used to be to so they can look at the surrounding tissue to see what was around it and if it spread. If I'm lucky I get a forehead lift or botox or something. December 6th... I can hardly wait. December 13th the stitches come out and I get the new & improved Body Scan. Oh yeah, and a new girlfriend.
2023
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Veterans Day Tribute
Veterans Day Tribute - watch the photo slides, you'll see Mariah with the choir in a white tee, and Mom, Grandpa and I in a photo taken prior to the program.
Yesterday was a wonderful Veteran's Day for Grandpa. He said it was the best tribute program he's ever been to. He was one of a handful of World War II Veterans, and represented his branch of the Army well. All the branches of the military were in fact represented - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and U.S. Coast Guard. The Marine Corps and Air Force had by far the largest showing of family presence in attendance. Several teachers and staff members of the school have served in the military. One of the more recent additions to the teaching staff served in Iraq and Afganistan and now teaches history. He looks like he just graduated college. I was amazed.
The speaker, when announcing those present at the program, mentioned the areas Grandpa fought in as an Private 1st Class infantry soldier - France and Germany 1943-1946 - as "no picnic, that's for sure" and that he saw tough combat. What really struck him though was that in 1950 he signed up to serve his country again; this time as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard, and was called into active duty back to the infantry in Korea where he received 2 bronze stars. Turning 91 on December 1st, and great-grandfather to Mariah - all that contributed to a special round of applause. It was awesome.
Here is the list of medals/commendations Grandpa provided for us:
World War II
Combat Infantry Badge
Yesterday was a wonderful Veteran's Day for Grandpa. He said it was the best tribute program he's ever been to. He was one of a handful of World War II Veterans, and represented his branch of the Army well. All the branches of the military were in fact represented - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and U.S. Coast Guard. The Marine Corps and Air Force had by far the largest showing of family presence in attendance. Several teachers and staff members of the school have served in the military. One of the more recent additions to the teaching staff served in Iraq and Afganistan and now teaches history. He looks like he just graduated college. I was amazed.
The speaker, when announcing those present at the program, mentioned the areas Grandpa fought in as an Private 1st Class infantry soldier - France and Germany 1943-1946 - as "no picnic, that's for sure" and that he saw tough combat. What really struck him though was that in 1950 he signed up to serve his country again; this time as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard, and was called into active duty back to the infantry in Korea where he received 2 bronze stars. Turning 91 on December 1st, and great-grandfather to Mariah - all that contributed to a special round of applause. It was awesome.
Here is the list of medals/commendations Grandpa provided for us:
World War II
Combat Infantry Badge
Good Conduct Medal
World War Victory Medal
European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (the speaker mentioned this told him Grandpa served under General George Patton)
Korean War
Army of Occupation, Japan
Korean Service Medal, 2 bronze stars
United Nations Service medal
Federal Service Ribbon
Korean War
Army of Occupation, Japan
Korean Service Medal, 2 bronze stars
United Nations Service medal
Federal Service Ribbon
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Divergent vs. Disintergration
So, I saw the eye specialist at Vanderbilt. He said I was the 3rd person that day with this problem and that's really unusual. It's an old person thing. I'm too young for it of course. But, Kay, and all you other wimps driving around in terror, his exact words, "you've been managing your condition beautifully... up til now". At least I was proactive and took care of this before there was an accident!
Everyone should take note however, that those MONOCULAR vision correction glasses or contact lenses can trigger the problem. I tried those briefly. I doubt it triggered my problem, since I have not had coordinated fusion since I was a kid, but was able to get away with it... how, I don't know. The Dr thinks I probably had a lazy eye that went undiagnosed.
I got a temporary prism thingy stuck to my glasses to fix my immediate visual problem. After a few days, if I'm good to go, I am to get new glasses with prism. Right now, it looks stupid, but it works! Hallelujah! The drive home in the dark, rush hour traffic, proved that beyond a shadow of doubt. It does mean, however, no more contacts... ever. If the prism solution doesn't work out, then there is a surgery route we can pursue. If I did that, I would guess at some point I could be a contact lens wearer again. Too bad when they fix the eye muscles they can't fix the vision all at the same time! Geez, I'm a busy woman! I don't have time to do these things twice!!
So, the two possible diagnosis are: Divergent Esotropia something or Cerebellum Disintergration. Y'all know I'm just going with Divergence and laughing at the Disintergration, knowing that with my luck I'm about to implode here. Our lesson of the day:
esotropia
[es′ətrō′pē·ə] Etymology: Gk, eso + tropos, turning
a medial deviation of one eye relative to the other fixating eye such that fusion is not maintained. Also called convergent squint, convergent strabismus, internal strabismus. Compare esophoria, exotropia. See also strabismus. esotropic, adj.
I rather like the #3, but #2 is probably my problem:
di·ver·gence (d-vûrjns, d-)1.
a. The act of diverging.
b. The state of being divergent.
c. The degree by which things diverge.
2. Physiology A turning of both eyes outward from a common point or of one eye when the other is fixed.
3. Departure from a norm; deviation.
I didn't find much on the disintergration the dr. mentioned. He said we could do a MRI to investigate further (and I will be talking to my neuro, be sure of that!) but he didn't feel it was warranted since I am not having problems with depth perception, per se, or with balance, dizziness, etc. Memory yes, falling down? No. However, I took a quick look on the internet just to see what a disintergrating future might look like for me. I haven't found much yet, but I did diverge in an interesting direction and found an article about autism and "the dance" with reference to Temple Grandin. A quick read, and interesting perspective.
http://www.autcom.org/articles/Cerebellum.html
Everyone should take note however, that those MONOCULAR vision correction glasses or contact lenses can trigger the problem. I tried those briefly. I doubt it triggered my problem, since I have not had coordinated fusion since I was a kid, but was able to get away with it... how, I don't know. The Dr thinks I probably had a lazy eye that went undiagnosed.
I got a temporary prism thingy stuck to my glasses to fix my immediate visual problem. After a few days, if I'm good to go, I am to get new glasses with prism. Right now, it looks stupid, but it works! Hallelujah! The drive home in the dark, rush hour traffic, proved that beyond a shadow of doubt. It does mean, however, no more contacts... ever. If the prism solution doesn't work out, then there is a surgery route we can pursue. If I did that, I would guess at some point I could be a contact lens wearer again. Too bad when they fix the eye muscles they can't fix the vision all at the same time! Geez, I'm a busy woman! I don't have time to do these things twice!!
So, the two possible diagnosis are: Divergent Esotropia something or Cerebellum Disintergration. Y'all know I'm just going with Divergence and laughing at the Disintergration, knowing that with my luck I'm about to implode here. Our lesson of the day:
esotropia
[es′ətrō′pē·ə] Etymology: Gk, eso + tropos, turning
a medial deviation of one eye relative to the other fixating eye such that fusion is not maintained. Also called convergent squint, convergent strabismus, internal strabismus. Compare esophoria, exotropia. See also strabismus. esotropic, adj.
I rather like the #3, but #2 is probably my problem:
di·ver·gence (d-vûrjns, d-)1.
a. The act of diverging.
b. The state of being divergent.
c. The degree by which things diverge.
2. Physiology A turning of both eyes outward from a common point or of one eye when the other is fixed.
3. Departure from a norm; deviation.
I didn't find much on the disintergration the dr. mentioned. He said we could do a MRI to investigate further (and I will be talking to my neuro, be sure of that!) but he didn't feel it was warranted since I am not having problems with depth perception, per se, or with balance, dizziness, etc. Memory yes, falling down? No. However, I took a quick look on the internet just to see what a disintergrating future might look like for me. I haven't found much yet, but I did diverge in an interesting direction and found an article about autism and "the dance" with reference to Temple Grandin. A quick read, and interesting perspective.
http://www.autcom.org/articles/Cerebellum.html
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Week Ahead
Forecast: Craziness with a brief episode of calm before the weekend
Yesterday I ran around like an idiot trying to be everywhere at once with about 5 minutes to spare. It didn't help that I kept looking at this one clock in the kitchen that was still an hour ahead and it was freaking me out that I was so far behind and needed to leave so soon and had accomplished so little. When I finally figured out what my problem was, I had to sit down and de-stress on facebook for 15 minutes! Whew!!
Tomorrow I have to hurry out of preschool for an appt with a new Dr at Vanderbilt about my eyes. I switched eye dr's and he is trying to get me in better prescription and has also referred me to a surgeon to see if I might need to have corrective surgery for some weird depth perception/fusion problem. I am having serious issues is all I can say. I'm starting to worry. Basically, my eyes have never operated together which is why 3D glasses don't work on me turns out. I always look out of one or the other, and switch which one is dominant. But now, whenever I am getting tired, like at the end of the day or at night when I'm driving and there is different visual input, my brain is tired of it and has decided to just shut it all down - . Like I said, weird. Runs in the family these weird eyes, thank you mom, very much.
Speaking of family, Grandpa is here to visit us now, during Veterans Day week, instead of Thanksgiving this year. I am taking Thursday off from preschool and we are going to Mariah's middle school Chorus program on Veterans Day. Grandpa will be amongst the honored attendees for his military service, especially as he is a World War II veteran, and also fought in the Korean war, and will be 91 in a just a couple weeks. He sure looks great. There aren't too many of these special men around any more who fought in that war. Last year Grandpa came for Thanksgiving and watched the video of the program we taped for him and decided that this year he would attend in person. We are so glad to have him here for this and Mariah is especially excited to share in her great-grandpa's honor on this day.
On Friday, my mom, Grandpa and I will be spending the day together. I don't have to work at Coldwater that day, so it was a nice bonus for us to have another free day. We've decided to go shopping for gaslamps for the patio and then head up to see how the Opry Hotel repaired everything from the May floods, see the Christmas lights, and have a yummy lunch together. The Opry Mall is still not even open. Except for Bass Pro Shops, which cracks me up, because you know they are Outdoorsmen and what's a flood to them. Just put on yer waders, fire up the fishin' boat John Boy and let 'er rip!!! Anyways, the entire Opry Mills Mall had to be gutted; I saw it on TV the other night and it's just open space, and steel beams - no stores or walls. Bizarre. And it sits empty and might stay that way for a long time. I can't even imagine that.
As a matter of fact, I can't even imagine sitting still anymore.....
- Today was just pure craziness.
- So was yesterday.
- Tomorrow calls for additional scheduling woes.
- Thursday and Friday look promising with the right combination of plans & hours in the day to people ratio.
- A weekend of scattered activities
Yesterday I ran around like an idiot trying to be everywhere at once with about 5 minutes to spare. It didn't help that I kept looking at this one clock in the kitchen that was still an hour ahead and it was freaking me out that I was so far behind and needed to leave so soon and had accomplished so little. When I finally figured out what my problem was, I had to sit down and de-stress on facebook for 15 minutes! Whew!!
Tomorrow I have to hurry out of preschool for an appt with a new Dr at Vanderbilt about my eyes. I switched eye dr's and he is trying to get me in better prescription and has also referred me to a surgeon to see if I might need to have corrective surgery for some weird depth perception/fusion problem. I am having serious issues is all I can say. I'm starting to worry. Basically, my eyes have never operated together which is why 3D glasses don't work on me turns out. I always look out of one or the other, and switch which one is dominant. But now, whenever I am getting tired, like at the end of the day or at night when I'm driving and there is different visual input, my brain is tired of it and has decided to just shut it all down - . Like I said, weird. Runs in the family these weird eyes, thank you mom, very much.
Speaking of family, Grandpa is here to visit us now, during Veterans Day week, instead of Thanksgiving this year. I am taking Thursday off from preschool and we are going to Mariah's middle school Chorus program on Veterans Day. Grandpa will be amongst the honored attendees for his military service, especially as he is a World War II veteran, and also fought in the Korean war, and will be 91 in a just a couple weeks. He sure looks great. There aren't too many of these special men around any more who fought in that war. Last year Grandpa came for Thanksgiving and watched the video of the program we taped for him and decided that this year he would attend in person. We are so glad to have him here for this and Mariah is especially excited to share in her great-grandpa's honor on this day.
On Friday, my mom, Grandpa and I will be spending the day together. I don't have to work at Coldwater that day, so it was a nice bonus for us to have another free day. We've decided to go shopping for gaslamps for the patio and then head up to see how the Opry Hotel repaired everything from the May floods, see the Christmas lights, and have a yummy lunch together. The Opry Mall is still not even open. Except for Bass Pro Shops, which cracks me up, because you know they are Outdoorsmen and what's a flood to them. Just put on yer waders, fire up the fishin' boat John Boy and let 'er rip!!! Anyways, the entire Opry Mills Mall had to be gutted; I saw it on TV the other night and it's just open space, and steel beams - no stores or walls. Bizarre. And it sits empty and might stay that way for a long time. I can't even imagine that.
As a matter of fact, I can't even imagine sitting still anymore.....
Monday, November 8, 2010
Campus Reports
Mike and I returned from Macon yesterday. We spent a long weekend with Indie on the occasion of her sorority's Feast of Roses, a dinner to cap off the new pledges initiation. Since Indie and her friend officially pledged last April, they aren't exactly new but they didn't go through this last year. So we took advantage of this opportunity to do so now. It was great to spend the time one on one with Indie and just chill. We hung out, ran some errands, and watched movies (2 at the theater: Red and Hereafter, and 1 at our hotel room: Knight and Day). We enjoyed them all. It was also nice to eat out so many times in a row. I think we were all quite full by the time the weekend was over. Indie has lots of plans and she will be busy next semester and hopefully if everything works out the way she hopes, and like why wouldn't the universe cooperate?!, she will have many service and leadership opportunities on campus and abroad.
As we were pulling away and watching Indie drive toward her college while we headed north, I commented that it was a great visit and now we needed to do the same with Taryn!
Speaking of whom.....
Meanwhile, Taryn was doing all she could just to survive on her campus during the brutal week long Humans vs. Zombie. We are not sure she survived the final encounter as she is seen here in a green bandana and I kind of thought that meant you were a zombie. Mike was reading me the stats today but the page isn't current as of the final battle on Sunday: 159 dead - that means they started the game as humans, became zombies and then died, so they are out. 21 zombies, 69 Humans. I'm starting to wonder if the game will ever end... I think they like it too much! Taryn's boyfriend Tim writes the best logs about it too. At any rate, the fact that Taryn made it as far as she did as a human is definitely something to blog about!!!
As we were pulling away and watching Indie drive toward her college while we headed north, I commented that it was a great visit and now we needed to do the same with Taryn!
Speaking of whom.....
Meanwhile, Taryn was doing all she could just to survive on her campus during the brutal week long Humans vs. Zombie. We are not sure she survived the final encounter as she is seen here in a green bandana and I kind of thought that meant you were a zombie. Mike was reading me the stats today but the page isn't current as of the final battle on Sunday: 159 dead - that means they started the game as humans, became zombies and then died, so they are out. 21 zombies, 69 Humans. I'm starting to wonder if the game will ever end... I think they like it too much! Taryn's boyfriend Tim writes the best logs about it too. At any rate, the fact that Taryn made it as far as she did as a human is definitely something to blog about!!!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Off to the Feast
I am ready 10 minutes before Mike's deadline to leave for Macon! Amazing, huh? We are spending the weekend with Indie to join her for the Feast of Roses - an annual event with her sorority for the new sisters and their parents to welcome them to Alpha Gamma Delta. Unfortunately Gib and Mariah couldn't join us as they would have to miss too much school. Luckily though, Grammy is here to oversee the rest of their candy consumption... or as the case may be for Mariah, the candy clean up.
I think Taryn's college friends should have a celebration dinner for their Humans vs. Zombies war. They could invite their relatives for a Family Feast....question is, who/what would be the main dish?! I wonder if Taryn is still human as of this writing? She is having the time of her life there at MS & T, that's for sure.
Yesterday, the demo crew tore out the old deck. I thought for sure they would find bones and such from the carcasses of rabbits, squirrels or other little rodents from the cats or raccoons or even skunks that have probably resided under there. Or even better, a really cool long snake skin. No such luck. Or, Grammy just didn't see it and the crew removed it. Bummer. I wish I could have been there watching or ask them in my broken Spanish if there had been any dead animals under there. Sure, they would have thought I was crazy, but it's not like they're the only ones who do, right?!
Ok, two minutes until we hit the road! Pictures and updates to follow...
I think Taryn's college friends should have a celebration dinner for their Humans vs. Zombies war. They could invite their relatives for a Family Feast....question is, who/what would be the main dish?! I wonder if Taryn is still human as of this writing? She is having the time of her life there at MS & T, that's for sure.
Yesterday, the demo crew tore out the old deck. I thought for sure they would find bones and such from the carcasses of rabbits, squirrels or other little rodents from the cats or raccoons or even skunks that have probably resided under there. Or even better, a really cool long snake skin. No such luck. Or, Grammy just didn't see it and the crew removed it. Bummer. I wish I could have been there watching or ask them in my broken Spanish if there had been any dead animals under there. Sure, they would have thought I was crazy, but it's not like they're the only ones who do, right?!
Ok, two minutes until we hit the road! Pictures and updates to follow...
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Day Before Demo
Today is Election Day. YAY! No school for any of us! So Grammy elected to put us to work. Tomorrow is her birthday, and for her birthday.... The backyard will be DEMO'D! And the backyard project will begin! Sounds good to us.
I definitely wanted to save my Patio Pot Plant and found a nice spot for it!
The rest we pitched by the sidewalk
Let the transplanting begin... anything in the way of demolition had to be moved
This Hearts A-Burstin' was most important to Grammy
Today Gib, Grammy and I cleared off the deck of all the potted plants and stuff. This is what it looked like after HOURS of work, work, work.....
I definitely wanted to save my Patio Pot Plant and found a nice spot for it!
The rest we pitched by the sidewalk
Let the transplanting begin... anything in the way of demolition had to be moved
This Hearts A-Burstin' was most important to GrammyPsst.... scroll down and see how tenderly we treated it. She'll never know.
The Rose of Sharon - A Big Q of whether or not it makes it. 
Grammy heading inside after a long morning's work
The Rose of Sharon - A Big Q of whether or not it makes it. Gib and I didn't put too much effort into its rootball... we were having too much fun.
Looks good though. Today.
Grammy heading inside after a long morning's work
Here's some of the things SHE DIDN'T SEE.....
They are both Zoom Worthy.
Me & Gib still goofing around at that Rose of Sharon rootball
we liked watching the dirt fly more than we should have. We think you will too.
Gib's bustin a gut tossing that Heart's a Burstin' around before we planted it. Too bad you couldn't hear him going "nwaaaaaaa"
Gib's bustin a gut tossing that Heart's a Burstin' around before we planted it. Too bad you couldn't hear him going "nwaaaaaaa"
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