When I went to see my GP, she noticed a spot on my back that concerned her, and recommended that I go see a dermatologist.
Why was this spot concerning?
–It hadn’t been there last year
–It was very dark–seriously, probably the darkest spot on all of my skin
–It was irregular in shape
–I’m over 40
So I went to see the dermatologist this week. She ended up freezing a couple of pre-cancerous spots off my face, as well as removing the spot on my back. (Which is healing but still sore. Wounds on the back just suck.)
Got the results back from the biopsy of the spot – all clear. That spot was just a mole.
Moving forward – will see the dermatologist once a year for a while. If there are more spots, will continue that pattern. If there are no more spots after a couple of years, then I’ll go back to seeing a dermatologist on an as-needed basis. (And yes, I do realize just how privileged and rich I am, being able to do that. Having health insurance, and the money to go to the doctor when I need to.)
Yesterday was a good day. I wrote 3000 words of fiction in two hours. It was easy. I’d been stuck on how to solve one of the problems I’d set up for myself in the novel, but the answer just came to me yesterday when I stood up to write.
This is how writing is supposed to be. The words are supposed to flow like that. It was the first time in a while that writing was like that. Mind you, I’m just a little bit stubborn, and I’ve been writing anyway.
Again, I blame hormones. As well as not sticking the keto diet.
When you go on a keto diet, you’re supposed to get the majority of your calories from fat. The percentage depends on your flavor of keto. Me – I’m supposed to get 70-80% of my calories from fat. And that’s something I regularly fail at.
However, more fat = better brain. I’ve noticed this more than once. For example, when I first started adding fat to my coffee in the morning (started with butter, really didn’t like it, ended up with coconut oil instead).
You know how when you get up to go get something, and when you enter the room where you were going to fetch that thing, then you end up completely forgetting what it was that you were going to get in the first place?
(There’s an actual biological reason for why we do that, BTW. Event border is the fancy term. Here’s a link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget/)
That stopped happening to me, that forgetting, once I added more fat to my diet. I get up to go fetch something and I remember the thing still when I get to where it is.
At this point, more fat on the day before appears to produce less brain fog in the morning. So I have to remember to keep eating fat on a regular basis. Like today, we’re going to the writer’s lunch. There will be a little fat in my food, not a lot. (Don’t ya know fat’s bad for you???) Anyway. So I need to plan ahead for that. Maybe have a second cup of tea this morning with more coconut oil. I used to carry a jar of coconut oil with me everywhere I went, just to add it to restaurant food because it was seriously lacking in fat. I will be traveling with a jar of coconut oil next week at NINC.
I hope that y’all are having a marvelous weekend!