WARNING – Images of a wound below, stop here if you are squeamish.
This past couple of weeks has been a little bit of a roller coaster. My mother has been hounding me to go to a dermatologist. Well, this is the first time I have had decent insurance for a couple of years so I made the appointment. Granted it was 45 days after I called but apparently this is a very good dermatologist. It is also the one that has removed various things from my parents skin. Melanomas and squamous cells included. So since they both had them and my sister has had them, I figured I should get checked.
The appointment was pretty simple, she checked my whole body, yes even the nasty bits. She saw a few things she didn’t like (skin condition wise) so she decided to take a couple of biopsies. One from my shoulder and one from my lower back. The part she removed was about as big as the end of my pinky. probably about 1 cubic centimeter from each. She cauterized the blood vessels and taped them up. My instructions were to keep them clean and dry for a couple of days before washing them and keeping them covered. In the meantime the samples would be checked for nefarious things.
Monday morning at 7:30am I got a call from the Dr. letting me know that both of them were melanomas and I needed to be in her office for extraction by noon the following day. BANG just like that I have just been told I have Cancer. What the…. it runs through your head for a bit and doesn’t quite sink in. I have just been told I have Cancer. Nope still hasn’t sunk in. Now time to rationalize things. Firstly she said another word on the phone but I was groggy and it didn’t sink in. She also was in a hurry to get me back to remove more. Is she worried or just cautious? What was that word? Small, insignificant, something like that, “Superficial Melanoma Excise” Is what I put in the calendar while I was on the phone. Superficial. That almost screams No big deal. Besides that once the “Excise” it, that is the cure. It is certainly not has difficult as some of my friends have been through. But I have just been told I have Cancer….
I was fine until later in the day when my bride asked me who the hell called so early. Once I said the words out loud it hit me pretty hard. She was shocked and mortified that she had been so insensitive about the call. How could she have known. I almost never get calls and I certainly don’t answer ones that early, but for some reason I did. Now I need to prepare myself for the quick op to get the rest.
I haven’t worked on the truck since the biopsies were taken and I didn’t work on the truck that night either. I ended up slipping from the diet and having a few beers and some wine. Wallowed in a little self pity and go over it. Woke up the next morning and got to work clearing as much off my schedule for the rest of the day.
We showed up 20 minutes early for the appt and as expected they took me back to do the cutting by myself but I made sure my bride was in the room when they explained the wound care procedure. The chunks she took this time were significantly bigger probably 1″ wide by 2″ long and 3/4″ deep. She stitched me up and handed us some extra pads to keep the wounds clean. The shoulder was no problem, but my back was very tight, i couldn’t bend at all. I had to sit up very straight, I’m sure my mother would say it was good for my posture anyway.
The next couple of days were slightly less stiff, but I was careful not to bend my back. I stopped taking the daily aspirin since I bleed so easily I need to give these wounds a chance to heal.
She does very nice work. A couple of day later I get a call letting me know that all of the melanoma has been removed from both sites. I no longer have Cancer. Ok, well not any active Cancer on my skin. I need to be checked every 3 months for the next year. Boom, I wish it was that easy for everyone that gets Cancer.
2 weeks go by and I head back to get the stitches out. The shoulder looks good but inflamed and the lower back looks nasty and may be infected. It is not totally closed and the tech puts some steri strips over the opening to keep it closed and bandages me back up. I need to keep it dry for 2 days and then if the strips will start coming off as necessary. I have been pretty active lately and neither wound bothers me but I can tell when I am stretching my back. The strips lasted 2 days and my first shower they are gone and the hole opens up….
I checked in with the Dr. she said it just needs to heal on its own, so I just need to keep cleaning and dressing it for the next couple of weeks. I do have an infection so I am taking some antibiotics to clear it up. In the meantime mom is trying to one-up me on the medical emergencies. She passed out while wearing a heart monitor and the dr. says she needs a pacemaker installed TODAY!
