I've gotten along by letting my body heal itself -- avoiding doctors pretty much. I am trying to recall how many doctors' visits I've had in the last 15 years. 2 in Rhode Island to get antibiotics for Lyme disease; before that you'd have to go back to an exam in Maine when I got on Colby's insurance system (2001); once in Kazakhstan because I thought I might have a hernia (1996); once prior to Kazakhstan to get our shots (1994). So (unless you count the pre-marriage blood-test -- 1996) 5 times in 15 years .

That spotty record is a product of equal parts skeptical philosophy, laziness and avoidance.

But now I must suffer medicine's clammy, unwelcoming embrace because I've got a parotid tumor along my jaw. Ignoring it for the past 2 or 3 years hasn't caused it to go away - on the contrary. And when George, our friend the M.D., finally spotted it, the jig was up. So, I'm probably looking at surgery coming up. 80% of these things are benign, so the hope is for a straightforward removal of the lump. I'll know more on Thursday, when I've got results from the biopsy and MRI.