Lauren Lejeune

Embarrassment is just the gift that keeps on giving these days. 

Which I guess I am OK with, it’s good for everyone’s character development to experience such things every now and then. Hopefully it is twice and done, but if it has to come in threes, so be it. 

After the whole cat fiasco, I came to realize that there are some things in this world that I really don’t know much about, and I had to be candid with myself in openly admitting that I might lack some common sense. Which is OK. Everyone should be self aware. I think a majority of people are not, but I do pride myself in being on the right side of that, even if it means I must admit my struggles. 

This past week I went down to the great state of Oklahoma for a work trip. It was pretty hot, pretty humid and more people than I typically see on a day to day basis. I learned a lot of new information, including the fact that the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University share a mascot. I also had the opportunity to paddlefish for the first time in my life, which was a wonderful experience all on its own.

About midweek, I noticed a mole on my hip that looked like I had halfway scratched off. It didn’t feel great, so I just left it alone and hoped it would fall off sometime soon. I don’t really have raised moles on myself, but I didn’t think too hard about it and went about my business. I kind of messed with it a bit throughout the week, just to see if it would come off, but didn’t have much luck. This went on for a few days, before I began to ponder and do some googling. 

If I must admit, I am on a bit of a health journey. Lately I’ve been looking into sunscreen, skin cancer and the American diet. Do some digging on that, just for fun in your free time if you want to jump on the conspiracy train. In context of my mole, I began to worry that maybe I was developing some sort of skin condition. I’m googling, microscopically examining every freckle, every mole, blemish and red spot I can see on my skin and doing some self diagnosis: skin cancer. That’s all I could see it being. So I made up my mind that I’d be seeing a doctor as soon as I made it back to Wyoming. 

Upon arriving at home, I showed Nate the mysterious mole, and he didn’t have an answer for me. I’d poked and prodded it enough, and it still hadn’t come off. That evening, as I was getting ready to shower, I gave it one last poke — and that’s when I saw it. Legs. 

It had LEGS. My heart stopped. And then I was yelling. 

Out of the two of us, Nate is most definitely the level headed one. He looked at it again and laughed at my misfortune: I had brought a tick home with me. The little thing had gotten a free ride all week, and made it all the way back to Wyoming on a silly girl who didn’t know squat about ticks. 

Needless to say, we performed surgery right away and lit that sucker on fire until there was nothing left. All of my clothes are being washed, and my skin crawls every time I think about there possibly being another one on me. 

If I was going to continue with my trend of using Dr. Google, I’d be looking up the first signs of lyme disease and most likely spiraling until I knew the answers. But we are not going to do that. I don’t have cancer, and I most definitely do not have lyme disease. 

My advice to anyone as a young adult trying to make her way through the world? Stay off Google, consult real physicians with your questions, and do a good once over of yourself after spending time outside.