Fatty Tumor

My high school did not offer Auto Shop or Biology. So I am clueless about carburetors and internal organs but my theoretical education taught me that carbonem is Latin for carburetor. Apparently Latinites run their vehicles on charcoal. Carbonem was easy for a teenage boy to remember but I was absent when the word haemorroidis was introduced. My college roommates called each other “butt pimples” but I never made the connection. In my late 40’s, pain and blood in a scary place prompted an appointment where a doctor offered to freeze off my hemorrhoid. I declined and raced to the pharmacy for Preparation H (Humiliation).

Many questions circulated about my health when I prematurely retired from Blogging. My wife says “many” is an exaggeration and suggests Preparation N for Narcissism. I wiped out my free time trying to schedule deferred medical, dental, vision, and skin screening appointments as far out as October. I used escalating magic words (blood, maggots, zombies) to entice one scheduler to book me in person with a nurse practitioner last week to look at the six inch diameter mound on my back. She said it was only a Lipoma and not to worry (“nine out of ten okay”). I knew nothing about Lipoma in English or Latin. The NP took celebratory pictures with my camera and hers, questioned how my wife and I were so oblivious to such a huge growth, and showed me a Wikipedia page (“oh look, there is one as big as yours”). She scheduled an ultrasound [could a baby be inside my pouch?]. When I explained everything to my wife, she opened the same Wikipedia page and read back the exact same information to me. My only question: How much weight can I lose by surgically removing the Lipoma?

59 thoughts on “Fatty Tumor

  1. It cannot be comforting when your NP suggests your Lipoma is big enough to have its own Wikipedia page. I am sending best wishes for your continued health. Have you picked out a name, just in case?

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  2. You mean a lipoma has nothing to do with lips? I guess that’s good. Having a function-free fatty tumor removed (insert Biden joke here?) beats having your lips hacked off any day.

    I would suggest a recuperation that includes plenty of Preparation S (scotch). Or Preparation I (ice cream) if you are prone to adverse reactions from Preparation S like unfiltered thought sharing, which could be dangerous for a guy who possesses your imagination. And is there any word with more Ss than possesses?

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  3. What I’m hearing is that you cleverly discovered your lipoma when it prevented you from comfortably sitting in your desk chair while typing, self-diagnosed with impending doom (which I completely applaud), retired from blogging, got your affairs in order…and then found out you were going to live?
    How septuagenarian Harry Potter of you! πŸ’ͺ🏽πŸ’ͺ🏽πŸ’ͺ🏽
    But I’m also reading between the lines and gleaning that you’ve finally finished that magnum opus that you call an obituary, so let’s have it then!
    Oh, and to explain your wife not noticing the lipoma, you should simply say that whenever you’re walking away from her, she can’t take her eyes off your butt. That’ll shut that blame game down. 🫣🫣🫣

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    1. I did have an irrational smidgen of annoyance when I discovered that my condition was frivolous compared to other more reputable diseases. When I first contemplated more dire possibilities presented by my lump, I was giddy with relief that going without a colonoscopy for 19 years was not a huge mistake. That relief now seems premature.

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  4. Don’t get me started on how things go unnoticed. To the horror of others and the slightly raised eyebrow of oneself, there are several ‘see through situations’ that many have experienced. My laptop almost exploded from a swollen battery that had literally cracked and lifted my keyboard. I had seen it and unseen it. How and why? I’ll never know. I hope the lipoma is nothing, Geoff and just a sign that you shouldn’t stop blogging. Take care. πŸ™‚

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      1. That is easy to do. There is a good reason to blog, get your mind on something else. A story a day keeps the worries away. Well at least it helps, thats my motto. πŸ™‚

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  5. A visit to the Doctor, Always interesting from the eatch-the-Doctor point of view. If the Doc keeps one eye on the keyboard, fine; looks over his/her glasses with a sardonic barely restrained eye roll, good; If they raise an eyebrow, still all good. If it’s eyes-widening to saucer size you have their interest, and you have theirs. Hopefully you don’t get a Doctor who gives you their Marty Feldman impression.

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    1. The Marty Feldman reference sent me searching for some clips. I did not realize how long ago he died. I also found I could not search with his name and the word “doctor” because so many doctors have that name!

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      1. Yeah, sorry my comment should have said ‘watch-the-Doctor.’ (Note to self:Less haste, more proof reading).There have to be a slew of Doctor Feldmans too.

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  6. I’ve had one of those for years. It’s in a place where my gynecologist noticed it. He said, don’t worry about it unless it grows. Not prone to worry, I’ve ignored it for decades and now I look transgender in tights. I rather like the look.
    Hmmm, I probably shouldn’t blog while drinking.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Thanks for making my Blog page better! Friday nights are bad for me. I still unwind even though I am retired. At some point I decide to post something on that Blog I never shut down. Then on Saturday I wonder what I was thinking!

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  7. Lipoma is fatty tissue gone rogue. I have had several surgeries done to remove them, but none like yours to fill a Wiki pageπŸ˜„. I really should not laugh at your lipoma but darn it, you do make me laugh. Regardless. I am glad you are back to posting. Still, being careful, my surgeon did biopsies to discount cancer and all 4 of mine were “fatty tissue protesting” Take care and have a good and non eventful outcome. πŸ’žπŸ˜ƒπŸ™πŸ™

    Liked by 4 people

  8. Good luck with your procedure. Maybe the doctor can throw in a free oil change while they’re at it. During the pandemic, I had to have an appointment via Zoom. The doctor asked me if my back pain was between the L2 and the L3β€”hmm, I don’t know. When He asked if I could show him where the pain was, I felt pretty stupid holding my laptop behind my back while attempting to point to the problem area.

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  9. Not enough weight to load up on cheeseburgers. I (since this is about me) had a fatty tumor on my wrist. I asked the doc should I go to a specialist. She Said β€œYes, and here she is.” She pulled a drug reference the size of an OED off the shelf, had me lay my hand/wrist out on the table and smacked the * out of it with the book. She examined where the lump had been, put the book away. Not sure I’d try that on your back… but your wife might.

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  10. I have a small one of those on my back except they are calling it a fatty tissue scar rather interestingly. Is yours in a delicate location? There is always a funny side to these things and it reminds me of this film How to get ahead in advertising. Maybe yours is how to get ahead in blogging?

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Technically I am a Juris Doctor but that does not qualify me to speak on matters of medicine, although I am applying to become a quack. I would also recommend against taking any legal, financial, or relationship advice from me either.

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  11. I googled Lipoma and I realized that I’ve seen it in my friend. We all suggested that he should go see a doctor, but he doesn’t want to bother. I immediately said it was due to his junk food consumption. Now I feel very guilty about that since it was almost a verbal abuse. He likes to eat and there’s nothing wrong with that. Why do I always pick on him about his diet? I should stop that.

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    1. I tried to get the medical people to tell me about causes for lipoma so I could do something different to prevent them. But they started to ask me about genetics and if anyone in my family had them. I did not know of any family history but when I nosed around, my sister-in-law told me my brother Kevin had one the last five years of his life and it was in the exact same spot on his back as mine is! Cautioning people about eating junk food is not such a bad idea though!

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  12. My dog has a large lipoma on his belly. Our vet says it’s no big deal, but she also says he could use to lose a few pounds. My dog thanks you for the excuse not to go on a diet. Clearly his lipoma is just really heavy.

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