So Old Man goes to doctors week continued for me yesterday -- my annual visit to Dr. Green, the charming and affable Dermatologist who my family insisted I switch to after my aging Dermatologist missed a lesion, and because he's terrific. We immediately bonded several years back -- most of his patients are women going for cosmetic stuff, and I know he enjoys my knowledge of Canes football and lack of care about Botox for myself. I referred him Mike and Loni, and they love him, too. Awesome guy.
Anyway, he found one spot on my ample belly to biopsy -- hopefully negative, or at worst a squamous or basal that can be MOHsed off. He found two over the years -- one of each, as I joke, since I'm a Diversity Guy, and referred me to attractive blonde MOHs surgeon Dr. Herman, born in the Bahamas, and also a delight. She zapped one lesion off my nose and one off my forehead in a single pass, Hopefully I don't need to see her this time around.
I also showed him a lump on my right index finger that's been there a few weeks -- above the joint. He examined it and said it wasn't really dermatological -- it went deeper. I ought to see a hand surgeon about it, to rule out it "being anything funky." Yes, I agreed, although I'm a huge fan of Soul Music, especially from the 70s, when it comes to my health, funky is bad.
I left his office and immediately called old friend Dr. Lew. Lew and I met when I was starting law school and he was finishing med school -- he lived a few apartments from Wifey, and her old roomie Mimi was good friends with him. Lew graduated UM and left for a surgery residency in Brooklyn, and we lost touch, until we reunited at Mimi's son's bris years later. Lew had married a Venezuelan born lady, and finished a Hand Surgery Fellowship at UM.
The reuniting was good professionally as well as personally. Our first born daughters were close in age, and we enjoyed taking the kids to the zoo and other events. And I got to refer Lew clients with hand injuries, and he referred me patients with injuries who needed a lawyer, and one of the biggest cases I got was because of him, indirectly.
A woman called me one day -- years before I had helped out her cousin in a small matter against a sleazy used car dealer. She wanted to sue her ortho surgeon -- he had operated on her hand, and done a less than stellar job. I knew right away her damages were too small for my firm to consider, but I had her make an appointment to see me anyway, thinking I could refer her to Lew, whose practice was still young, and maybe he could help her. She came in, and we ended up representing her and her family, but not for the hand. Her son was gruesomely burned in a lighter accident -- it never occurred to her or her husband that THAT might be the lawsuit. The case ended up being life changing -- most importantly for insuring lifetime care for the boy, but for me personally, the share of the fee from my old firm was life changing. Wow -- that was 1992 -- long time ago.
Anyway, I called Lew from my car, and he answered right away. Wifey and I meet him and Maria for dinner a few times per year, and it was time to plan that, anyway, but I told him about my issue. He had me send some photos I took in the daylight. He texted back -- telling me to Google "Finger Mucus Cyst" when I got home, and then to call him.
Voila! I was on the phone with Mirta, and she taught me how to get Google Images. Sure enough, the photos of finger mucus cysts were exactly the same as what I have on my pointer!
Lew called back, explaining to me that he used to remove those on patients, but they grew back, and if they don't bother patients (mine is painless and only visible -- zero functional issues) he advised leaving them be -- they often disappear in a few months, and if they become troublesome, we can always whack it off then.
I joked that all of his years of college, med school, residency, and fellowship were a waste -- he could simply use Google. Yes, he said -- medicine is heading to AI anyway, and given the poor quality of many young residents he encounters these days -- it's probably for the best.
So -- finger issue solved -- we moved onto the matter of dinner, which we planned for January -- December is pretty hectic, as he pointed out, with both Christmas AND his oldest daughter's birthday, who makes a big deal out of it like my Ds do. They got that from Wifey -- Lord forbid we don't celebrate her birthday -- the skies cry.
Anyway, I was thankful, and now await my mole results. Tomorrow I see my urologist, and then Monday one of my TWO eye docs.
Hopefully all preventative stuff, but when it IS something, it sure is nice to have folks to turn to.
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