The official term for removing this mole is called an excision,
not quite an exorcism but an excision. I
guess because its half in the body and half out. I was fairly calm walking into the
appointment and having to deal with their computer technical difficulties
before the procedure. One of the release
forms I read on a printed piece of paper, but signed via IPad explained all the
risks associated with an ‘excisional surgery’ or complications such as scar,
bleeding, infection, nerve damage, not so bad, I don’t care about nerve damage
on my hip anyway. Cancer is a lot worse
than what they have listed and again, thank god I’m doing this now. Then I read down to postoperative care
(another reason why I checked my first aid stash), not so bad I can handle
this.
Now I’m in the room answering more typical medical questions (the nurse started our introductions with 'Hello, I'm _____, you look nervous as hell') um, heck yeah. Then I clued her in that I thought the doctor would use a cork screw to take it out. She hands me the typical paper examining robe
and the doctor comes back in to mark the spot. He pulls out a black Sharpie and
draws an ‘eye’ (yes an actual eye) on the mole using the cornea as the mole
itself. In my opinion it reminded me of
those old ‘color by number’ books we had
as kids. After he leaves she injects
the Novocain which felt like the needle was in there forever, it was a cold and
warming feeling (thank goodness I emptied my bladder before I got there). About 10 minutes later the doctor comes back
in and here we go. I felt what I thought
were three incisions, the outline of the eyeball and then taking out the
middle. Followed by “you’re going to
hear a little buzzing” (um ok), they should have said it would be followed by a
burning smell. I asked if it was a laser and he said he quarterized it (he didn’t
answer my question or he did and I was just too numb to ‘get it’). Anyway that
was it, then he stitched me up and said he was doing them ‘surgically’ to limit
how big the scar would be. (Sure I don’t
care, its going to be covered by my underwear waist band anyway.) Then I got
dressed, got my next appointment to get the stitches removed in two weeks and
off I went to get my meds filled. I
guess when a doctor gives you a script for Percoset it means I’m going to feel
some sort of pain afterwards.
I was in the office for 1 hr and 12 minutes for a 5-8 minute
procedure not counting the 10 minutes it took to numb me up. I love it when they say, “You’re going to
feel a little pinch” (um ok) and “Let us know if you feel something” (um ok)
then what, are you really going to shoot me up again? I felt the last two stitches go in (it was no
more than a ‘little pinch’) and then I took a peek before she put gauze over
it. Nice and straight like train tracks (11 stitches in all).
Overall I’m glad this is done and over with, except for the part
of going back in two weeks to get the stitches removed. I don’t want to be part of a statistic for
fair skinned females getting skin cancer, another reason why it’s important for
everyone on a yearly basis to get screened.
Now I have to find all my low rise undees that won’t put any pressure on
the wound for two weeks and no swimming in the pool for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment