About a year ago I went to the dermatologists office for a funky rash on my hand that turned out to be eczema. While I was there, the nurse asked me if I wanted to get a "mole check" done. I had never heard of this before, but said sure....because I am adventurous like that. Haha. Turns out, a mole check is when you strip naked, clutch a little sheet to cover your private bits, and have the dermatologist slowly examine every mole and freckle on your body. Even on your butt. I have a lot of moles and freckles, so you can imagine the time this took. At the end, she said there was only one mole that she thought needed to be watched, and that was a big dark one on my neck. Its been there, unchanged for as long as I can remember. She said I could either have it removed, or just wait and watch it. I never got around to doing it, and the year passed by. Now, because of the whole cancer thing already playing out in my body, I thought it would be a good time to get it removed. Plus, we have gone above and beyond our deductible and co-pay this year, because I am an overachiever like that. So the procedure would end up being free for us.
I went in Tuesday morning to have it done, and it was a lot more involved than I thought it would be. They kept calling it a surgery, that should have been my first clue. They draped the area, numbed me up (uncomfortable, but not painful) and whipped out the scalpel. The mole was small, but they cut a football shaped area out around it, just in case its malignant. After she got it out, she cauterized the area to stop the bleeding, and then put some dissolvable stitches in the tissue below the skin. Then she sewed up the skin layer, leaving me with 5 stitches! I was really sore for the next two days, and every time I move my head to the left, or up, it pulls the stitches. At first I told Matthew it hurt. Then I kind of laughed to myself. Lung surgery hurt. Chest tubes hurt. This? This was tender, annoying and sore. But it didn't hurt.
I should have the results about whether it is benign or malignant in a few days. I am not expecting it to be anything, because really....I can only handle one kind of cancer at a time! Because I love to share my war wounds, here is a before and after.
Before:
After:
I went in Tuesday morning to have it done, and it was a lot more involved than I thought it would be. They kept calling it a surgery, that should have been my first clue. They draped the area, numbed me up (uncomfortable, but not painful) and whipped out the scalpel. The mole was small, but they cut a football shaped area out around it, just in case its malignant. After she got it out, she cauterized the area to stop the bleeding, and then put some dissolvable stitches in the tissue below the skin. Then she sewed up the skin layer, leaving me with 5 stitches! I was really sore for the next two days, and every time I move my head to the left, or up, it pulls the stitches. At first I told Matthew it hurt. Then I kind of laughed to myself. Lung surgery hurt. Chest tubes hurt. This? This was tender, annoying and sore. But it didn't hurt.
I should have the results about whether it is benign or malignant in a few days. I am not expecting it to be anything, because really....I can only handle one kind of cancer at a time! Because I love to share my war wounds, here is a before and after.
Before:
After:
