July, 2018

Those of you who have seen me for treatment more than a few times know I have a serious bias against surgery. Conversely, I have a serious faith in the body’s ability to heal itself if given the correct input and care. In a few months I’m electing for surgery. It’s not a big deal but it is something I have put off for 25 years and I have recently decided is something I need to do. I discovered a small lipoma on my ribcage (benign fatty tumor) around the size of walnut in my twenties. When I asked my GP about it he said, “Well, I can refer you to a plastic surgeon to have it removed or you can just wait until it gets big enough to carry around in a backpack and then have it removed.” At 25, I was even more hypervigilant about surgery than I am now so I opted to see how things would progress. Well, they have progressed alright. With hormonal changes and my body’s need to hold onto more fat, the lipoma is at an uncomfortable size and I’ve decided I need to soften my opinions (once again). It turns out the things I’ve held most dear about the body are sometimes true but not 100% just like everything else in life. Now that my cognitive understanding is being lived out in my body, I have to adjust my entire nervous system’s response to being invaded by a scalpel, being helped by very sharp, precise, instrument to remove what I know will be problematic if I let it go. So, all of this is to say, the body is my best teacher for how to go with the flow, be exceptionally caring, and avoid getting too bogged down in thinking something is one way or the other. Everything has its place and the body is such a magnificent example of that concept.