At my age, linoleum scares me.

“Almost nothing need be said when you have eyes.”
― Tarjei Vesaas

"You've got a little freckle in your eye. But, don't worry, it's very small. Nothing to worry about but I think I should refer you to a specialist. It will take months before he will see you, but in the meantime, don't worry," my optometrist told me and the end of an eye exam.

Why would I worry? It's only a freckle and I am covered in freckles.

A couple of days later, I google "freckle in the eye". This is what I discovered.

Choriodal nevi (freckle in the eye) are benign, however, your eye doctor is trained to watch closely for the development of a choroidal melanoma, a tumor found in the eye. In rare cases, the nevus must be biopsied and examined for melanoma (cancer) cells. Choroidal melanomas are malignant tumors and must be treated.

Whoa! Melanoma means cancer, right? The big "C", right!

PD is an invasion. Scary. Can be real scary, to be honest, but it is a firecracker compared to the CANCER nuke. Now that's the definition of scary. No matter how often I read that the freckle rarely is cancerous, I still freaked about it for a few weeks; but, as a month or two passed, I settled down. Then it was time to see the specialist. How would I react when he tells me I have cancer?

At the conclusion of several tests, he took me down to for an ultrasound of the eyeball, but the technician had gone home and he couldn't find a necessary piece of equipment.

"Well," he said, "Can't do it today. Make an appointment for 3 months and we'll see if that sucker has attached itself to something else". He helped me out of the chair and left the room.

What! Another 3 months! Attach to something else! Sounds like cancer to me! 3 months to go.......

Let's make a long story short. At my next appointment, I had the ultrasound and was told I had a mole in my eye. Very tiny and it had not grown since I was last seen.

"Call my nurse and make an appointment for 6 months. We have an accurate measurement now and we'll see how it goes, but don't worry"

Worry? Strangely, I am not worrying. I've got a mole in my eye. It has no effect on my eyesight and I am not the cancer-getting type (touch wood). I am, and will remain, optimistic. After all, I am dealing quite nicely with my PD. In fact, I don't think about PD or the mole much at all. I am relaxed. So relaxed, I forgot to make the appointment, which I will do tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. Afterall, I have 6 months to go, right?.

“What day is it?"
"It's today," squeaked Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.”