Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey

I am feeling quite bummed out today and am trying to maintain a positive attitude.  I had a follow up visit with my dermatologist about a mole that had been biopsied recently and, to make a long story short, I had minor surgery today and had a fairly size-able portion of the skin removed from the back of my leg (as luck would have it, it was in the bend of my leg which gets a lot of action when you  walk, much less run!).  A heated laser-like device was employed to stop the bleeding and stitches were utilized that pretty much run the horizontal length of the bend of my knee. Now, here is where I doubt the health of my psyche and perhaps you will too.  When the procedure was finished I ask the doctor how long before I can run on it  and when he responds “ideally, I would stay off of it for a month” I begin to cry.  Big crocodile tears make their way down my face and begin to puddle on the floor under the table where I am lying.  He asks if I am crying because of the pain of the procedure or about the running.  I can’t even answer.  Poor guy!  He then begins to immediately back paddle, telling me that I need to avoid running for at least two weeks.  When I tell him that I have been training for a marathon, he suggests that I try pool running until the sutures heal well enough to handle the pounding of running.  Pool running?  Never heard of it, but guess what I am going to be Googling over the next few weeks as I try to follow the doc’s recommendations and “take it easy”. 

The melanoma was inevitable.  I am fair skinned, blond, freckled, blue eyed and have a family history.  How I choose to “suffer” is optional.  Pool running, here I come….