"You're Healed"

At my age, I'm lucky that I'm not running to doctor's appointments all the time but I do have my regular ones.  In the spring, I see the dentist for a cleaning and the dermatologist for a check-up.  In the fall, I see the dentist for a cleaning, the dermatologist for a check-up,  and I see the haematologist to have my blood checked...a few of my white cells are misshaped and could cause me trouble some time down the line, hopefully not until I'm 110 years old.


After going through radiation last fall for skin cancer on my lip, my springtime list of appointments included seeing the radiologist for a check-up.  His response after looking my lip over was, "You're cured!".  I asked about the slight swelling and numbness that is still there and he said the healing will be ongoing for a few years...this was a surprise.  I'm cured but still healing??  Hmm!


I have a couple of other suspicious spots but I'll see the dermatologist about them tomorrow.  I asked the radiologist why I, who was never a sunbather in my youth, should be afflicted with these darned things and he said that I was just unlucky.  I blame my Irish ancestry for this pale, freckled, and susceptible skin.


I know I've mentioned this before but here it is again.  Our health care system in Canada is pretty darned good and I'm thankful for the services I get that aren't accompanied by a bill or a co-pay.  If I did need medical care on a regular basis, it's there for me and it's excellent and not watered down care.  We Canadians should all be thankful of what some foreward thinking politicians did for us way back in the 1960's by providing the citizens with health care that was funded with taxes.  Sure, we bitch about how much tax we pay on goods and income but a long illness could bankrupt the average person.


That said, I have to say that I'm pleased with how my little lip skin cancer was handled even though looking at the pictures I took while I was undergoing radiation makes me sick to my stomach.  I survived it.  I'm here and I'm dear....I love that saying!