I had a similar skin cancer scare recently. Mine ended up being malignant, but it was successfully excised and a lymph node biopsy showed it hadn't spread there yet, so I'm probably OK now. This...
Yep, some pretty dark thoughts were swirling in my head. The good thing about it was that my usual worries lost importance.
I had a similar skin cancer scare recently. Mine ended up being malignant, but it was successfully excised and a lymph node biopsy showed it hadn't spread there yet, so I'm probably OK now. This bit of your article really resonated with me. While I was waiting for the results of the lymph node biopsy I was constantly thinking of all the little weird feelings, aches, and pains that I probably experience all the time and assume are benign, and magnifying them in my mind to the point where I felt sure my body must be riddled with melanoma and I was going to get bad news. My worries shifted from my usual anxieties to trying to come to terms with the idea that I might be gone soon and all the things I needed to do to make sure my wife wouldn't be left in the lurch on all the various things I handle for us (email subscription, self-hosted password manager, all my auto-renew domains and various tech services that could be canceled, stuff like that). I had a similar epiphany to yours, where I realized my normal problems and anxieties can be rather trivial and I shouldn't let them control me as much as I do. It also made me realize that there are a couple life goals that I've had since I was a kid that I've been putting off forever and need to get cracking on.
I had a similar skin cancer scare recently. Mine ended up being malignant, but it was successfully excised and a lymph node biopsy showed it hadn't spread there yet, so I'm probably OK now. This bit of your article really resonated with me. While I was waiting for the results of the lymph node biopsy I was constantly thinking of all the little weird feelings, aches, and pains that I probably experience all the time and assume are benign, and magnifying them in my mind to the point where I felt sure my body must be riddled with melanoma and I was going to get bad news. My worries shifted from my usual anxieties to trying to come to terms with the idea that I might be gone soon and all the things I needed to do to make sure my wife wouldn't be left in the lurch on all the various things I handle for us (email subscription, self-hosted password manager, all my auto-renew domains and various tech services that could be canceled, stuff like that). I had a similar epiphany to yours, where I realized my normal problems and anxieties can be rather trivial and I shouldn't let them control me as much as I do. It also made me realize that there are a couple life goals that I've had since I was a kid that I've been putting off forever and need to get cracking on.
Thank you so much for sharing that. I can't even imagine that level of stress. I am glad to hear it looks OK.