Cyberchondriac n. -- Someone who needlessly fears the worst after using the Internet to self-diagnose an ailment.

I think i have recently become one. 2 weeks ago, while I was scratching my head i felt a little bump on my scalp. It was hard and roundish and I wasn't sure if it's a lump. Having heard of so many cancer/tumor cases i began to worry about it. The first thing of course was to google brain tumor. What's can be worse than brain cancer or brain tumor you tell me. The symptoms of brain cancer are headache, weakness, clumsiness, difficulty walking and seizures. Well, luckily none of these I experienced these days. So why is this little bump? Without hesitation i found a family practice doctor with El-camino medical group and made a appointment visit. Dr. Dominique Boillot he is. I went in his office and came out in less than 5 minutes:) Basically he touched and tried to feel the bump. The diagnosis was exostosis:

An exostosis is the formation of new bone on the surface of a bone. Exostosis can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to debilitatingly severe, depending on where they are located and what shape they are.

Unless it gets bigger or bothers me too much, Dr. Boillot said it's harmless. Phew!! anyway why is my skull bone still growing? am I scratching my head too much? On the other hand I have been thinking about a body check so I made another apointment for a physical exam. My last physical check was done right before I came to the US. I probably had a X-ray, took a vaccine shot of mumps and maybe some basic blood test. 2 days ago I went to Dr. Boillot again. The examination itself was pretty standard like going though my health history and information, measuring heart beat, blood pressure, scanning for unusual lump. The only part that i haven't had before was letting a doctor to exam and touch my brother! Of course my friend had told me that a physical exam includes genital check so this didn't come as surprise. I should have consulted a female doctor right? That way not only the doctor can detect if there's irregularity on my balls but also see if it's functional wtf! Other than that, I took a tetanus vaccine and some blood sample mainly for hepatitis B checking. The report should be out in a few days. Pray!

I haven't received the bill but total out of pocket co-pay was only 5 dollar. Hopefully the bill doesn't cost a bomb. 2008 has been a healthy year for me. This year alone I made 3 visits to dermatology Dr Divya Railan to remove a dead skin on my thigh, 1 teeth cleaning, 1 physical exam, 1 blood test, 1 flu shot, 1 tetanus shot and on top of that 5 blood donations. One more teeth cleaning coming up in Jan 2. Speaking of health consciousness? my dad, you should learn from your son!