Month: June 2013

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Oh for the love of …

Really? The article linked below really pisses me off. Less than 24 hours after California began allowing Same Sex Marriage again, some fuckers in another STATE are filing to halt  them.

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This is all these people have to do with their time and money?

How about feeding the poor that they go on about all the time. How about providing alternatives to abortion by giving young unwed mothers a place to stay, and paying for the delivery of their babies in a hospital.

But NO, these people choose instead to spend millions of dollars to fight a battle that more and more normal people have no interest in fighting.

Gay people do the following just like everyone else;

Pay Taxes

Work their asses off

Buy homes

Raise children (Through adoption, or quite often children from previous marriages)

Contribute to the economy

Serve in the military

Become police

Fall in love

Are protected by the Constitution

Deserve equal rights

Deserve equal taxation

Deserve equal protection under the law

Shouldn’t be forced to live as third or fourth class citizens

Deserve the right to inheritance.

Are entitled to their deceased spouses social security and insurance

Are entitled to their joint savings and deceased spouses retirement accounts.

These things and something like 1000 other rights & privileges are conferred instantly by a Certificate of Marriage.

These are things that straight people take for granted. Don’t even get me started on what marriage… The holy union… that blessed by God, or gods, event really was. (Spoiler… POLITICS! Dynasties! Power! Control! Dare I say it Sexual Slavery! )

Gay people using the system of “the Same but different” AKA civil unions still have to spend 10s of thousands of dollars to secure the same rights.

Even then, THE STATE or Nasty Family members can still walk in and simply take a lifetime of work and planning away.

That can’t happen with a marriage.

Here’s a shocker.

All the conservatives out there who are screaming about same sex marriage should consider this.

While conservatives talk about the Government being too involved in the lives of average people, those same conservatives will tie up in court, (You know the Government) a simple proposition of equality.

Think about this;

Gay people in this country have fewer rights than islamic terrorists or  Illegal aliens when it comes to marriage, inheritance, and building lives together.

Most gay people are citizens. They’re sons, daughters, nieces and nephews, neighbor kids that mowed your lawn. They’re Eagle Scouts, and Girl Scouts, Doctors, Nurses, Surgeons, and friends. Gay people are woven throughout the fabric of our society and yet somehow they’re always Less than…

Where are the rights of Gay people?

Given, taken away, Given, taken away.

How would the Über conservatives like having their freedom of speech or religion taken away, then given back, then taken away then given back?

African Americans are not innocent in this either. Gay people stood for equal rights in Selma, and Memphis. They marched with Dr King, they believed that equality should be equality for all.

Yet here in California, African American voters swayed by religious fervor from the pulpit managed to narrowly pass proposition 8. It’s been suggested, that had the black voters not showed up at the polls in record numbers, proposition 8 would have failed.

How can it be that equal rights really means equal rights for only some?

Does anyone remember anti-miscegenation laws?

Yeah, there was another time in our history when two people who loved each other couldn’t marry. 

The funny thing is that many of the arguments used to justify that contemptible law are in use today to justify laws against same sex marriage.

Gay people can’t be expected to behave in any way except than with an “agenda”.

They are being persecuted and deprived of their right to equal protection under the law, Of course they’ll behave like a civil rights group. Of course they’ll continue to fight, to protest, to stridently demand fairness.

Before you seek to deny equal rights to someone think about how you would feel if the roles were reversed.

Gay people aren’t out to destroy society, they’re only demanding full and equal participation.

Shouldn’t citizens of this country be afforded equal rights ahead of Illegal immigrants? (You know folks who broke the law crossing our sovereign borders without permission?)

Think about it. Then tell me again why gay people shouldn’t be pissed off.

Update 6/30/2013

As you can see I’m pretty passionate about some things. (Like you didn’t know that)

I generally identify more closely with conservative values than with liberal values. I suppose in this instance I’m squarely in the liberal camp. I don’t like being in the liberal camp, I feel dirty.

My overarching beliefs are in Liberty, Equality, and Justice. I was taught to ask the question, “Where do my rights end and another persons rights begin?”

I believe that individuals know what’s best for them in their lives, and that anyone who seeks to deny any individual any of their rights is to be viewed with great suspicion.

I truly have a problem with the conservatives who in my opinion are hypocrites. These are people who want my help in protecting the constitution and the bill of rights. Then, because of their personal hang-ups or philosophical disagreement  would arbitrarily “cherry pick” groups who enjoy those protections.

My philosophy is that you can’t pick & choose which rights will be accorded your fellow citizens. We all must be equal and we must all defend each others rights. 

(This belief does not preclude assigning a subset of basic rights to non-citizens who are legally visiting our country. However the subset of rights should be those that are internationally agreed to and accepted. You know, the same as visitors are treated in other foreign countries.)

So I was fired up that an out of state group would even think they had a dog in this fight.

They don’t.

I’d respect them if they’d take all that money they’re going to spend on beating the dead horse known as proposition 8 and instead fund improvements to orphanages, or mental health facilities.

I know they’re not going to do anything that reasonable or altruistic, but I’d love to be surprised.

Update 2 6/30/2013

HAHAHAHAHAHA 

The Gay Marriage opponents FAILED to obstruct gay marriages continuing in California. The article is linked. So you can read it for yourself.

It looks like Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy gave them a smack down by denying their petition without comment.

I guess now these fuckers will spend their money somewhere else to deny rights to someone.

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Good News Everybody!

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The Supreme Court of the United States today gutted DOMA and effectively said that Proposition 8 here in California was unconstitutional, by allowing the 9th circuit courts ruling to stand.

This is a good day.

At the same time we know that the well funded, fundamentalists will begin their campaigns to take away the rights and privileges that have been restored to the GLBT community.

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Today is a sad for me personally.

Today marks the Fifth anniversary of a friends death.

John would have been leading a band of happy folks over the SCOTUS ruling. I have this weird image of him playing his trumpet or his sax like the pied piper. Wait, he also played the flute yeah that’s what he’d be playing.

I found out that he played the flute one Summer afternoon when he was on leave from the Marines. He was sitting on my back patio in a pair of olive shorts just noodling with some classical piece of music. He looked up as I came in from work and morphed the classical piece into the riff from Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. Then he moved on to a medley from Songs from the Wood.

He did it so seamlessly that I never noticed the transition. He gave me a gift that day. He perked up my mood and put a smile on my face even though it had been a really BAD day at work.

I still smile when I hear music form those albums because I see John sitting on the patio relaxed and happy, playing his flute for an audience of one.

Five years on, and I still miss him. Every once in a while I’ll hear someone whose voice sounds like his. Now though I smile instead of feeling blue.

John wouldn’t want me to be sad, especially not with the news today. The image of him leading a group of smiling people his flute sparkling in the sunshine does put a smile on my face. There are times when I wonder if he somehow puts funny images in my head to cheer me up on his birthday and on this date.

Yeah, I get misty-eyed thinking about him, but I can’t stay blue. An endless line of memories and laughs we had flits through my head and I end up smiling & feeling happy in spite of myself.

So John, in honor of you…

I’m going to smile, be happy and drink a toast to the good news. Then I’ll toast to you, our friendship and loving each other like brothers.

Your light and joy aren’t forgotten and you have a place in my heart forever.

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People are so weird.

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Big news yesterday was that a bear wandered down from a mountain to the East, walked along my fence line and then through a neighbors garden then up the mountain to the South of the house.

Nothing at all unusual about that, well not to me at any rate.

I live in a canyon on a mountain. The peak to the south of me tops 8000 ft (maybe higher, I don’t  feel like digging out the topo maps for an exact altitude.) I live at 6250 FT above sea level.

In this area we have bears, coyotes, bobcats, and the occasional cougar (mountain lion). We also have rabbits, raccoons, deer, bats, owls, and hawks. Not to mention a variety of snakes, poisonous and non poisonous.

Part of the reason I like living here is that there are birds in the trees, and wildlife is pretty abundant.

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I get a kick out of the way people down below get their panties in a bunch when they see a critter.

On the one hand they’ll oooh and ahhh and protest about the destruction of the Brazilian habitat and yet they’ll freak out when they encounter a Coyote on a trail near their tract homes.

God forbid a Bear should walk through a neighborhood…  Mountain Lions? You’d think that a T-Rex had been found alive.

(Down Below… That’s how we refer to the areas which are not Mountain towns. Yes it sounds effete and I guess it is, so what? Even my Orange County friends live on the top of a mountain, Yes, we do look down on some areas.)

I understand that these people are so disconnected from nature that the only way they ever interact with wildlife is via the Discover Channel, Green Peace, or a nice safe zoo.

Their support of environmental causes doesn’t do anything to minimize their blatant hypocrisy. There are times when I want to slap them and point out that protecting the environment starts at home.

Maybe people should tear down some of their 15FT high concrete walls around their homes. How about creating easements so that critters could once again migrate to better hunting grounds and sources of water easily?

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Oh I see, that’s too scary… You’d have to be responsible and keep an eye on your kids & pets.

I get it, it’s the same mentality that says “put criminals in prison, but don’t build the prison near me.” Or “I want cheap clean electricity but it can’t be nuclear and solar panels are so ugly… Thank goodness my homeowner association won’t let those in our development.”

I got to thinking about these things because a neighbor has family visiting. The family is from one of the most artificial warrens of humanity I’ve ever seen… New York City.

The Grandmother was so freaked out by the fact that a bear had been sighted she’d been keeping the children inside for fear that the bear would carry them off and devour them.

She kept asking why no-one was concerned and why didn’t we contact animal control or the police? (I heard it all through the open windows, sound carries here in the canyon.)

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She just assumed that the locals (us) didn’t have a plan.

Obviously we were ignorant savages because we weren’t freaking out about it. (Hummm now that sounds familiar… in what other context are people presumed to be too unintelligent to handle their own affairs?)

We do have a plan. When we see a bear we contact those people we know have kids first. Then folks with small pets. We inform each other that a bear or other critter is in the neighborhood and to take appropriate action.

Often this results in families gathered on their decks well above ground watching the critter pass harmlessly by. It’s a great show and we feel privileged to have been able to watch.

Then when the critter has gone, the kids, and dogs go back outside to play and life returns to normal.

We’re prepared, we keep our garbage in special containers and we don’t leave edible things outside to attract critters. We also know that most critters aren’t at all interested in us.

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Coyotes & Hawks keep the rabbits, mice, and other rodents in check.

We don’t as a rule have to worry about gophers, squirrels, or rabbits, getting out of control in our gardens.

Sure, we might have to replant a few plants one morning but the telltale blood on the ground tells us that the rodent met it’s end.

Replanting a few plants is a small price to pay for not having to poison the environment.

Notice I said, “out of control”… I lose a few raspberries, blackberries, and apples each year to rodents and birds. I’m content to share, they have to eat too.

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FYI there is nothing like watching a Hawk snatch a critter off the ground and fly off. It’s amazing. Yeah, I feel sorry for the critter but it’s not going to suffer.

I do my part, I accept losses in my garden so that I can witness hawks and snakes doing what comes naturally.

Watching coyotes hunt in the evening or the early morning is a study in teamwork. It’s very interesting to watch and surprisingly often, the prey slips between the coyotes paws and the pack goes hungry.

I enjoy the acrobatic flight of bats snagging insects out of the air.

When I get to watch a bear wander around. The light on their fur makes them look shiny. The last bear I saw had dark black fur but the sunlight playing across its shoulders hinted at a reddish undertone.

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You think about bears and cougars as being somewhat monochromatic but they’re not. They have variations and each one is unique, just like people.

You can’t really appreciate that unless you get to watch them in their natural habitat.

All of these things are worth the minimal risks. The kids learn a lot more practical lessons and hopefully appreciate nature a little more than the denizens of glass and concrete.

My neighbors were trying to explain all of this to Grandma, but she was having none of it.

This was wild and uncontrolled (therefore dangerous) and we have to protect the children! I knew for sure that Grandma was from a big city when she said that.

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Protecting children is obvious, for the most part instinctive, and even those like myself without children will go out of our way to protect them.

(“Protect the children” as a phrase has lost all meaning as it has been overused to forward an agenda. I personally believe that agenda will in fact increase the danger that children face. I’m a believer in knowledge and experience being far better protectors of children than fear and insulation from the world. That’s another completely different story, for another time.)

I couldn’t help but think about the noise that kids make. They’re loud and active and every animal on the planet knows that where there are young… Mama’s not too far away.

Nothing is more dangerous than a mother protecting her young. So between the noise and the mama rule… Critters are going to give the area a wide berth.

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I thought I could have some fun by pointing out the wide variety of poisonous snakes and insects that no doubt existed where the kids had been playing. And that the kids were far more likely to break bones or come to other harm by running around barefoot in the yard.

Thus far I’ve refrained.

No sense in terrorizing Grandma, she’d just make it harder on the kids.

My neighbor pointed out to the Grandmother that I tended to keep an eye on the kids too.

I’m sure that raised eyebrows because so many people nowadays automatically assume the worst. At least it gave her something else to fixate on.

I notice the kids are outside running around enjoying themselves again.

 

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In my ongoing medical treatises Apparently I can actually Hear.

Living with another person is often a joy and often a pain in the ass. Roommates discover this really fast.

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Typically if you’re not in the mood for beer bongs, and crazy parties, you head to your space and close the door or you leave the apartment / house / whatever and find someplace that you want to be.

If that other person is a spouse it’s not so easy to just ignore them.

Well, it’s easy but there are of course consequences.

“I told you about this dinner 2 weeks ago! Why don’t you ever listen to me?”

“No you didn’t tell me about any damn dinner. I was going out drinking with the guys. You know this is the one Friday a month that we get together and blow off some steam.“

“I don’t understand how your friends are more important than what I want to do.”

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Sound familiar?

Yeah, this was getting to be the new “normal” for conversations around here. I couldn’t figure it out. I thought damn!

Glasses, too damn many doctors, prescription drugs and now my hearing is shot.

So after considerable thought, I did what every guy does.

I ignored it!

Until I happened to run across an article about the rugby player turned anti bullying activist Ben Cohen.

Turns out Ben has a pretty significant hearing loss. It wasn’t clear if that hearing loss was due to rugby, or was congenital. However Ben met Sir Elton John at a charity event and I suppose Sir Elton noticed the telltale signs of hearing loss in Ben.

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Sir Elton, sponsors a charity that helps people dealing with hearing loss get what they need to lead “normal” lives. 

The article went on to say that Ben Cohen who’s a young guy, had hearing aids that he rarely wore because in crowded rooms, and events they simply didn’t work very well.

With a little help, and a little arranging from Sir Elton, Ben ended up at Starkey (I linked their hearing foundation web site there.)

The article said that Ben went to one of their facilities for an evaluation and some in-depth testing.

The upshot was that Ben got new hearing aids that worked properly, and because they work correctly he’s wearing them much more often.

The first person I ever had really close contact with who wore hearing aids is a diver I met on a scuba trip. We ended up as room-mates from the duration of the trip.  I honestly don’t know if he gets how much he educated me and the dive group.

I never realized that crowds, and restaurants were problems for folks with hearing aids. I never realized how delicate and prone to failure some hearing aids are.

While on the trip one of my friends hearing aids went down. We were out of the US so it wasn’t like he could run to a repair facility.

In crowds, because the hearing aid amplifies all sounds, and in some cases shifts the amplified sounds to frequencies the person can hear, often all the person hears is noise. It’s overwhelming.

For folks with “Normal” hearing we focus on the frequencies that are of interest to us. The sound of a voice or voices across a table, for instance. 

Our brain ignores all the extraneous sounds on other frequencies and allows us to pick out a conversation. Face it, our brain is a marvelous computer. To simulate that ability with a machine is a tall task, yet our brains and ears do it with ease, naturally, and effortlessly.

But how do you do that if you only have half the frequencies to work with? How do you tell a machine what you really want to focus on? How do you make that machine shift what you want to focus on into a range that you can hear?

My friend, simply left his hearing aids in the hotel room. He preferred to read lips in crowds and restaurants. It made his evening a lot more enjoyable.

When he let the group know he was essentially deaf, we all made sure that during dive briefings he had clear unobstructed views of the dive master so he knew what the plan was.

I was really amazed at how easily our group adapted to and accommodated his needs. We didn’t baby, or coddle him we just made sure he could read our lips when it was appropriate. He for his part, never demanded any special treatment he simply explained to us what he needed.

I really like and respect him for his understatement.

As a person my friend is funny, charming, witty, and genuinely wonderful. I like being around him and will dive with him anywhere, anytime. I also forget that he’s mostly deaf. Until he starts signing at me underwater… (but that’s a different story.)

In any case after reading the article about Ben I thought fuck! If he can man up and my dive friend can live so normally, I can at least go have my hearing tested to find out what the problem is.

So I called a hearing test place, made an appointment and showed up at the appropriate time and place.

45 minutes later the audiologist tells me that my hearing is excellent. Not only is it excellent, but I don’t appear to have any loss in frequency spectrum either.

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I got a nice printed copy of the test results and was told to keep taking care of my ears.

Honestly I’m very pleased with the results.

Except for one small thing…

Now I have no excuse when I don’t pay attention to what the other half is saying.

I tried to hide the paper (like a poor report card) but it’s been found and I’ve been asked about it.

Damn!

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Another Dermatologist Fails the interview

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First I apologize to any readers who are dermatologists but damn!

The next convention you attend you need to let your colleagues know how flakey your profession seems.

Let me explain.

I’ve been to dermatologists whose offices looked like the photos I’ve seen of Illegal abortion clinics.

That visit… the Dermatologist in question was allowed to use Liquid Nitrogen but under no circumstances allowed to breach the integrity of my skin. I don’t think that their sterilization practices were lax, but I don’t know that for sure.

(As a rule, if someone is going to work on me with sharp instruments I’m a hell of a lot more comfortable if they tear open the sterile wrappers in front of me. When an instrument has been Autoclaved it’s usually in a paper bag and that bag has a stripe that changes color when the bag and contents have been exposed to temperatures high enough, long enough to sterilize the contents.)

Even at the dentist, I feel more comfortable if they have to tear open the bags to get to the tools. It’s just good hygiene and since I know what I’m looking at, I’m immediately at ease because I’m unlikely to get some horrific disease from the instruments.

I’ve been to dermatologists that cancelled appointments at the drop of a hat.

Ya know… it’s really nice Doctor, that you have a competition sailboat however I worked a ton of overtime so that I wouldn’t be docked for missing the time I’d intended to see you, My GP, The Dentist, and the Eye Doctor on a very tightly and carefully worked out plan in a single day.  Your arbitrarily canceling appointments so you can go play on your boat kind of throws a monkey wrench into my works. 

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Had this doctor done this only once I’d have been ok with it. But the Doctor in question did this 4 consecutive appointments over a period of 6 months.

During that 6 month period I actually got to see this particular doctor exactly TWICE. But it cost me 2 days off at work. Thanks Doc!

Even accepting her staffs proposed reschedules I still got cancelled on.

The NEXT Dermatologist I got to see twice, of the 6 visits four of those visits were with a Physicians assistant.

Great! But I’m paying to see the damn Doctor and honestly the P.A.s range of treatment options were confined to creams, ointments, and unguents.

All of them SLOW to work and as a guy, the last thing I want to deal with is some crap I have to apply 3 times a day and have a patch of skin that’s chronically damaged, tender, and is now a serious sunburn issue.  

Especially when I know damn well that the problem could have been dealt with in 30 seconds with liquid nitrogen or a freaking scalpel.

On the occasion when I got to see the Male Doctor himself that’s how we handled it. 30 seconds and DONE. Next!

All of which leads me to todays debacle. New guy about my age.

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Paperwork is usual, how are you paying? Can you pay? Will you be paying? I provide the insurance crap, and they get a little snippy when I don’t provide an “Emergency Contact” Who doesn’t live with me. They’re really pushy about this and start asking for my Mother or Father even if they live out of state.

This is RED FLAG #1

If I’m frothing at the mouth twitching on the floor and we’re not having sex… an out of state “Emergency Contact” isn’t going to do them a whole lot of good now are they? My Mother has been accused of being a Witch, but even HER broom isn’t supersonic.

This is about nothing more or less than money because nowhere in their paperwork have they asked for my spouses name. They’re trying to get another datapoint so that IF I skip out on the bill they’ve got someone else to lean on for the fucking money. 

I tell the pushy lady that my family is deceased. She replies thats inconvenient, I reply “Yeah especially for them!”

My appointment was for 10:15. I was on site at 9:55 with all the paperwork filled out. At 10:05 I’m ushered into an exam room, where I’m asked to fill out yet another piece of paper.

This paper asks questions like where were you born, how long did you live there, how long have you been here? Have you been exposed to pesticides? My response was, “Who hasn’t?”

The perky nurse who led me into the exam room takes my Weight, BP and Temp. then leaves. Then comes back in asks a couple of questions then leaves, then pops in asks a couple of questions, then leaves, then pops in asks a few more questions then tells me to take off my shirt.

It’s 10:20 I can hear the doctor doing dictation in the room next door.

I know it’s him because of the descriptions of the conditions and I know it’s dictation because he’s saying things then speaking the punctuation. “Patient X needs to get a life(period)”

I’m sitting there with my shirt off, nipples hard from cold a meatpackers freezer would envy and I wait. 

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At 10:55 I’m not cold anymore because I’m well on my way to being angry. I can hear the doctor dictating away in his office next door and I’m sitting in the exam room hearing everything he says.

Stuff like him talking with someone about lunch and arranging a tee time. 

At 11:00 am I’ve decided that for the sake of thoroughness I’m going to wait another 15 minutes. Then I’m leaving. 

I’m dressed in Jeans, a T-shirt, and flip flops. Thats the easiest way for the Doctor to see any and all problem areas. I’ve had Dermatologists want me to be in nothing but my boxers and had them check me for funguses, Skin cancers, and all manner of issues. I honestly  do make an effort to be attired in a way that minimizes any waste of time.

At 11:08 the Doctor breezes in, “great” I think. Now that I know his business and a significant portion of other patient information including the spelling of their conditions he’s finally seeing me.

He launches in to a well rehearsed spiel that is clearly based on the form I filled out almost an hour ago in that very room. 

RED FLAG #2

Without examining me he’s already assumed I’ve got sun damage. With a glance he tells me I have grovers disease. Uh, no, I’m having a problem with a soap I just switched to. I’ll change soap and this will go away in a couple of days. 

“No he says, that’s a disease for which there is no cure.” 

I’m thinking to myself “WTF? I know the cure, stop using the soap sitting in the windowsill of my shower.”

Diagnosing Grover’s Disease

A dermatologist might make a diagnosis of Grover’s disease based upon the appearance of the rash associated with it. A skin biopsy is may be needed in order to confirm the diagnosis. Grover’s disease presents a characteristic appearance under a microscope, with separated cells called, ‘acantholysis,’ either with or without, ‘dyskeratosis,’ or abnormal rounded skin cells, being present. The majority of cases of Grover’s disease last less than a year, although the condition might occasionally last longer, come and go, or present with a seasonal variation.

From www.disabled-world.com

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What we have here is a disease that can only be guessed at based on visual diagnosis. The medical community isn’t sure what causes it, why it manifests mostly in middle aged white guys, or exactly how to deal with it. 

In my book that’s not a disease, it’s a condition and it’s easily dealt with for me by making sure that I watch the kinds of soaps in my world.

Certain laundry soaps, and bath soaps will cause a breakout. Other soaps will let my skin heal and I’ll be fine for years until someone changes the formulation.

I, as the occupant of this body know it’s habits, quirks and what makes it happy or sad. 

This guy wasn’t accessing my internal diagnostics, and we weren’t building a relationship.

He was blowing it and didn’t even know it.

As readers of this blog know, I whacked my big toe back in the fall. Well the nail didn’t actually come off but it’s clear that the damaged old nail is being replaced by new growth.

The damaged nail had blood clotted under it and that permanently discolored the 1/4″ strip of keratin that remains. Big Deal. 

The next words out of this guys mouth are “Lets talk about that foot and nail fungus”

I reply “I don’t have any of that.” 

“Yes you do.”

“No I really whacked that nail in the fall and this is normal regeneration.”

“No you’ve got nail & foot fungus”

As he’s looking between my toes, I tell him “A man that doesn’t take care of his feet is a man that doesn’t take care of himself.” 

The Doctor is looking really hard for nonexistent fungus. He finally admits that there is not any fungal infection and tries to move on, but is clearly off his game now and desperately trying to recover the “Arrogant Doctor High Ground“. 

RED FLAG #3

Doctor tosses around another term, ichthyosis. To which I said ” If only, That might help with my SCUBA” 

He stumbled then. He didn’t laugh, it was more of a hiccup in his spiel.

Icthus means – fish.

osis in medical / biological parlance means – condition, process, action.

Therefore icthyosis means literally “fish condition”

Thank you Dad & Mom for making me learn Latin / Greek root words. 

Problem is, that while this condition can be very serious and debilitating in the more extreme of the 28 varieties. It can also be a very nice catch all for dry skin. 

I have a couple of very dry patches of skin on my shins.

I’m sitting in this exam room wondering if this Doctor is trying to intimidate me, terrify me, or get me to sign up for a series of extended, expensive, and annoying procedures.

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To be sure… He had no sense of humor.

RED FLAG #4

Doctor says “I know what I’m going to say to everyone before I see them. Everyone is sun damaged, everyone is the same.” 

11:15 Doctor hands me papers talking about sunscreens, soaps, and moisturizers and is out the door.

No “I want to see you again in a year”, nothing at all. It was like instead of being a DOCTOR he was just cashing in. He said nothing else to me, he just abruptly left.

I pulled my shirt on, grabbed my shit and headed for the reception area. After checking with the reception lady that she didn’t want to collect a co-pay today,  I was gone.

Mind you, all I wanted was a few minutes to deal with any pre-cancerous lesions that I might have. I, like most children of the ’60s am sun damaged, I know this it’s not a revelation or news to me.

I’ve been through the process of preventative skin cancer treatment before, its simple.

Locate any odd spots, freeze odd spots off, swat patient on ass, tell them to go play, and remember their sunscreen. That is all I wanted, a simple yearly check & prophylactic removal of anything questionable. 

That’s not what I got… In fact I feel very “Ripped off”! Needless to say, I won’t be going back to that doctor ever!

I was a little pissed off. What a waste of my time, but better to know I’ll need to keep searching for someone that I get along with and who is reliable.

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I keep asking myself if my standards are too high. I really need to have a relationship with a physician, I can’t be just another piece of meat to them. I don’t think it’s too much to ask…

After I left the Doctors parking lot, I headed to a shooting range I’d been wanting to check out.

My crankiness at the crappy and I’m sure horrifically expensive medical exam evaporated upon my hearing the familiar PoP pop POP of pistols being fired. 

The shooting range redeemed the day and I might just become a member of their organization.

Strange, the things that give us comfort.

Here’s a short update.

The one & only piece of advice I got out of the visit with this jerk was to check out a product called AmLactin. 

I’ve been using the Ultra Hydrating cream for about the past month. This stuff is really great and has cleared up the dry spots I mentioned on my shins. I’ve also used a little of it on my knuckles and seen really impressive results correcting the splitting there. If you wash your hands a lot you’ll notice that most of the soaps suck the oils right out of your skin.

I had a case of “Street Fighter” knuckles to beat the band & the AmLactin has fixed me right up.

This stuff is pricy but it works and you don’t need to use huge amounts of it.

It’s mostly odorless and soaks in fast without leaving you feeling greasy. I don’t know a guy who likes having a greasy feeling on their skin all day… (A couple naked greasy hours fine… but all day? Not naked? NAH)

Just figured I’d pass on that little bit of information to all the guys in internetland.