How Healthy is John McCain?

“It was the size of a dime and as thick as a nickel—a discolored blotch on John McCain's left temple,” starts the article in Time Magazine that asks, “How Healthy is John McCain.” The article then goes on to how he didn’t pay much attention to it during the 2000 Republican primaries, and then finally took the time to have it checked after being defeated.

Now, I have to tell you that, if I see anything new ON MY FACE the size of a dime and as thick as a nickel, that almost merits a visit to the emergency room. Hello, am I alone on this? Truthfully, if anything shows up ANYWHERE ON MY BODY that wasn’t there before that’s the size of a dime and the thickness of a nickel needs immediate medical attention!

Okay, I have admit that as I get older, I get strange things on my skin that I never saw when I was a younger woman. Once a wart-like thing appeared on the tip of my nose. I made an appointment with the dermatologist but there was a two month wait (apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that things that show up on your skin overnight aren’t good). But before I could get the thing checked, seemingly overnight it morphed into a sharp-pointed monstrosity that stuck out like about 1/16 of an inch. I panicked and call the dermatologist and said the “witches wart” (my son’s affectionate term, which he named while I was waiting for my appointment) had changed and I couldn’t wait for the appointment. She agreed and told me to come in the next day. While I was sitting and waiting for her, the medical assistant came in with a large needle which she jabbed in my nose and numbed it. Wow, I’m thinking, they are pretty no-nonsense. But then the doctor comes in, moves the thing around and to my complete surprise and horror, whips out a razor blade, that’s right, just like those things you see in your shaving device, and slices the tiny horror right off the tip of my nose and drops it in a vial of alcohol. While I’m sitting there in shock she presses a sterilized gauze pad to my nose to stem the bleeding, then a band-aid. Well then. “I don’t think it’s anything but we will call you as soon as we get the lab results,” she says, ushering me out. The whole thing probably took five minutes.

I get the call a couple of days later. “Good news,” says the nurse who called me. “Your skin lesion is only a Keratosis, also known as an OLD AGE BARNACLE. It’s totally harmless, but come back and see us if it grows back.” An Old Age Barnacle. Now that’s a sobering thing to have growing on your face, right on the tip of your nose.

But back to the dime sized, as thick as a nickel growth on John McCain’s face. I know how men are. They don’t like going to the Doctor, and sometimes have to be pushed. But c’mon. A COIN growing on your face is surely cause for alarm. It turned out to be malignant melanoma when he finally got to the doctor to get it checked and required 5 ½ hours of surgery. That’s right, melanoma. Bob Marley died of melanoma! The article also states that he had a malignant melanoma removed from his shoulder in 1993. You have to ask - if that had been you, wouldn’t the appearance of a dime sized lesion the thickness of a nickel be cause for alarm? What if he had won the nomination? Would he have gone on campaigning, not taking time to have the thing checked out and really put his life in danger? The article states that there’s a 40% chance of a melanoma re-occurring, and that when it re-occurs it’s usually trickier because it will often not appear on the skin but inside the body. I don’t know, 40% seems like some pretty high odds to me, especially for a man his age.

Just something to think about. Although I hope with all my heart that McCain gets stomped by the Democratic nominee (and I say Obama!) because the Republicans have just done a miserable job over the past 8 years, after reading this article I now additionally hope he loses because of the stress running a campaign and (God forbid!) being President would put on his body. If I were his wife I would tell him to go sit down somewhere.