Clearly, I waited too long to see my dermatologist

Last night I was talking to Mom about my visit today with Dr. Norman Friedman, a local dermatologist. I had several objects on my face I wanted removed, plus my family doctor recommended I have him look at a mole on my cheek.

Mom said if I had procedures done and needed a ride home to give her a call. “Don’t worry, Mom,” I told her. “He’s not going to do anything (today) except look at everything and schedule an appointment for me to come in and have things cut off.”

Well.

As I sat in his examination room he began looking me over. He paid close attention to an object on my lower back, something I hadn’t known was there. He said he was certain it was a skin cancer, but the good news was that in removing it for a biopsy, it would be gone and no follow-up treatment necessary. Then he asked why I’d come to see him. I told him about the objects on my face. He checked them and said, “We’ll remove those just for fun, though I warn you, the procedure is painful.” Great.

First, he took off the offender on my lower back. Then he used some kind of cauterizing device to burn the area. “Phew, that stinks!” I told him. “That’s the aroma of roasted Del,” he answered.

Then he laid me on the examination table to go after the facial objects. He warned me again it was painful and said he’d do one just to test my pain threshold. I’m already a big baby when it comes to doctors, and a bigger baby when it comes to pain, so I was expecting something akin to a root canal. He took a stylus-like object and began tracing it over one of the areas. It was painful, yes, but not so painful I couldn’t stand it. I’m thinking it applied an electric current to the area, scorching the flesh – heck, I don’t know. He did the rest of the areas plus a couple of others for good measure.

As his nurse explained to me how to care for the area on my back, she noticed another area that looked suspicious. She thought about it for a minute, then went to fetch Dr. Friedman for another look. He debated removing it, then finally decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Another Novocain shot, more scraping, more burning. All the while we chatted about the joys of kidney stones.

My face feels like I’ve got a sunburn, but I’m very happy to be rid of these things. I’m even happier to be rid of the one I didn’t know about, the one that was likely cancerous.

So I encourage you to visit your local dermatologist if you haven’t been in awhile. I hadn’t seen Dr. Friedman since 2006 and that was clearly too long to wait. I plan to make it an annual affair.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .