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And how do you make yourself stop!?!?

I had a mole removed, and when I went to have the stitches taken out, the derm told me that a larger section needed to be removed and then referred me to a plastic surgeon. She said that the mole was atypical and could turn into cancer if left there.

Not a big deal, right?

Yeah, except they sent me home with the pathology report to give to the plastic surgeon, and after reading all of the medical jargon, now I'm convinced that she was too scared to tell me that something was terribly wrong. And I googled it, of course... some sites put my mind at ease, others made me worry more.

I have an appointment with the plastic surgeon in a month. I called the derm to see if that was too long to wait, and the nurse said it was totally fine. So, there's nothing else I can do. If there is something bad there, I can't excise it myself. I also can't worry it away or do anything else (other than be even more judicious with sunscreen and stop with the googling) to improve the situation.

Ugh. I wish I could be more laid-back.

It helped to put this out there. Thanks for reading.

If you are a worrywart, do not google any health related ailment. An in grown toenail = death.

But since you have, I suggest a martini

I know. I did the same thing when I needed a suspicious spot in my breast biopsied. It completely freaked me out, and I spent three days barely able to eat. Fortunately, it was benign, but even if it wasn't-- there wasn't anything I could do. The doctor would have called me, told me it wasn't, then recommended the next course of action.

I know that worrying can be a good thing in certain cases, but in cases like this, it just exhausts me.

There's some awesome books by Gavin debecker, the best of which is called The Gift of Fear. He explains that worrying allows your brain to feel like you are taking action when things are actually out of your control. I started writing down things I needed to actually do, and learned to let go of the rest.

Also I had something like you're describing. The second procedure they cut a big piece out - 2 layers of stitches - one for the muscle and one for the skin. It's just a scar now, I had clean borders. Let go of the outcome because worrying won't change it.
Fingers crossed for good news