Those who have been following my Twitter might have seen the drama of Friday.

2 weeks ago, Brandon went to the dermatologist to have a few spots on his face checked out.  While there, the doctor insisted to just look him over and took a biopsy from this spot on his back.  Friday was his follow up appointment and it turned out the one on the back is well on its way to become a melanoma.  To be on the safe side, the derm scooped out the skin around the area and sent that to the lab as well.

All I got from B in the office was a text saying that “the derm is taking a chunk out of my back. will call when done.”

Was I freaked out?  Hell yes!  Not to mention that when they biopsied him a few weeks ago, the boy almost passed out at the end.  You see, Brandon does extremely poorly with needles.  Pain he can handle.  Needles, not so much.  And here he was, getting a chunk cut out of his back and he was going to drive himself home?

I drove in to town with my carpool on Friday, so I texted him to hang out at the doctor’s office and let me know when he was read and I’d come him.  About 15 minutes later, he called back.

“I’m on my way home now,” he said.  “I’m driving as fast as I can before the drugs wear out.  I will have an inch and a half scar on my back that you’ll need to help me with. Oh and I have to take your parking spot because of the stitches, I can’t close the garage.”

Hoorah, Marines.  You guys are one odd breed.

I know we probably overthink this a bit.  It’s not even a melanoma yet but we were *this* close.

Obviously, when anybody comes close to the word “you have cancer”, doesn’t matter how far or how close it is, it’s still scary.

I did what I can do at the office and thanks the stars Nhien is a angel and let me run home for the afternoon.Mr. High Pain Threshold over here wasn’t in much pain.  He’s just a little sore.  We just had lunch and took a nap together.

He didn’t quite say it, but  I can sense he’s a little freaked out.  It sure as hell scares me. (But I’m not telling him that.  So. Shhh…)

Saturday came and it was like a brand new phase of our lives has begun.  We went out shopping for some frivolous items, hoping to pick something up from Circuit City’s Going Out of Business Sale.  Seriously, NOTHING was on sale except for the big screen TV and a few printers.  We came out empty handed.

Then we went ahead and picked up a humidifier for Brandon’s sinus and the Keurig Mini single cup coffee maker for our odd beverage consumption behavior.  For me, a one-cup-a-day decaf drinker.  I used to have 3-cup maker but it was such a waste.  For Brandon, he likes tea but is too impatience to wait for water to boil and for tea to steep.  With this machine here he’ll have his cup of cha in no time flat.

I baked in the afternoon to take my…well, Giada’s…famous Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascapone and Chocolate to Lupe’s birthday party that night.  What a party that girl threw for herself!  Brandon surprised everyone by actually being at a party.  (He hasn’t been to one in a while.)  And I surprised everyone with having had 2 sparkly cocktails and 2 shots of Patron and still walked out of the house on my own will.  Hahaha!

And of course, yesterday at Holy Jim Trail down in Trabuco Canyon.  My neck is still a little stiff from getting tossed around in the car getting to the trail.  Something about not being able to control my limbs as we bounced down the bumpy, gravely road gave me the giggles.

Our hike was also fun as we made our way to the waterfall twice because we forgot to look for the geocache.  This is where I found my first ever geocache!  I’m not telling you where it is though.  🙂

What’s so extraordinary about this weekend after the almost-melanoma?

We were out doing things.  Instead of him behind his computer games and me watching a movie or geeking out.

We were out.  Doing something fun.  Something new. Enjoying our lives outside our geeky little bubble.

We–well, I–even started a conversation with Nora about going to Italy next year instead of going home.  My dad will try to meet us in Venice, he said.  Brandon has no objection to going along with that plan.

It’s a little push from the Universe right there, that little spot on his back.