For those of you who care about such things.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a dermatology referral from my doctor because of a recurring spot on my forehead. The dermatologist did a biopsy and determined it was a basal cell skin cancer. Now don't anyone freakout. Basal cell is the least aggressive of all cancer. It virtually never spreads and in all but the rarest of cases the first treatments gets rid of it altogether. This last Thursday, I took a day off work and went in at 8:30 for outpatient surgery. I was in the operating room (closet? with two nurses and the doctor around the table, they hardly had room to turnaround without bumping into each other)less then an hour. I left with a big ugly compression bandage on my forehead.

I put on one of my most recently purchased tops, some black Capri's and my gold, woven sandals and headed out to J C Penney's. Mind you my only make up was some dark burgundy lipstick and, I discovered later that I didn't have a particularly good shave. My unmentionables were getting a little worn, so I thought I'd pick up some more, only since I've lost thirty-seven pounds since my last purchase I wasn't sure of the size I should get. I also thought I might see about a new bra since I'm down to one that doesn't keep moving after I stop turning.

Well I didn't see my usual style in panties, so I was on my way over to look at bras and the sales associate asked if I needed help. I told her that I had lost some weight and wasn't sure just what size I needed. She offered to measure me, but I went on to say that I couldn't find the panties I was looking for. She asked what pants size I was and spent ten or fifteen minute showing me several different panties that I might like. In the end, I opted to put off my panty purchase, but asked if they carried mastectomy bras. She said that Penney's doesn't, but there was one bra that might work.

She showed me the bra, which had a covering behind the lace overlay which might act as a pocket for my forms. After some discussion about what size I should wear, she sent me into the fitting room with two to try on. Alas, neither would work. The pocket wasn't large enough or maybe wasn't positioned correctly for the forms.

I thanked her for all her time and she told me the my forms looked really good and she wouldn't have know they weren't natural if I hadn't said anything. She then gave me a Jolie catalog and explained that they were good quality and added that if I was eligible for medicare that I could get free bras from them. I thanked her again and headed for the area that had tops and skirts, wondering just what medicare would say when they got a bill for a mastectomy bra for someone designated male on their records.

As I was looking at the tops, (I was trying to find a duplicate of the top I was wearing for my wife since she said she'd have liked to borrow it if it had been in her size) and another sales associate offered her help. After explaining that I what I was trying to get for a "friend" she spend nearly half an hour looking though her stock and online to see if she could find it for me. When she came up empty, I told her that I also wanted a knee length skirt. The only thing she could show me was something suitable for office wear, but I wanted something casual. After exhausting all the possibilities, I thanked her for her time.

After some browsing I picked out two tops I thought my wife might like, called her and described them verifying the size. One of them was a size too small, but it looked generous to me, so I told her I'd try them on and if the smaller one seemed to be as loose on me as the larger one, I get them both for her. Again, the sales associate smiled as I went into the fitting rooms. I got them both and my wife did like them.

Even though I didn't get anything for me, it was a great shopping trip and certainly validated my feminine nature to be treated a woman by these two ladies. I'm not sure about the second associate, but I'm sure the first one was convinced I was genetic girl.

I love shopping at Penney's anyway, but this trip was special.