I got in my car and texted my husband, “I hope guys dig scars.”
Hi Everyone,
How are you? It is still crazy out there. Last week was a little crazy here too. A good crazy. My daughter, son-in-law and grandson came to visit for a few days. The weather was cold (it’s JUNE!) and wet, but we still got out enough to introduce Brayden to the horses, donkey, goats, llamas and chickens. A 15 month old brings their own sunshine.
So here is what is new in my world. Back in January, before the kidney stone incident, I made an appointment with a dermatologist. I had an annoying place on my face that had been there for years. I had had part of it removed 20 years ago, but now it had grown and was blistering up then not healing. I knew it was a basal cell skin cancer so I wasn’t concerned, just annoyed with it. There were a couple of other places that needed checking. Being of Irish German decent pretty much predisposes you to need a dermatologist.
Originally the appointment was to be in June, then got rescheduled to early March. I had three places biopsied and all three were basal cell cancers. Doctor wanted to schedule the removals the next week, but at that time I was still dealing with that darn kidney stone and one can only take so much pain at one time so I put it off until June.
Hello June. I won’t go into all the painful and gory details and I won’t share photos. Let’s just say that the spot on my leg was a breeze. Not so much the two places on my face. First surgery was on the old annoying spot. It was somewhere between the size of a pencil eraser and a dime. I’m thinking 5-6 stitches after it was removed. Try 3 times that many stitches! Yes, I had stitches running down the middle of one side of my face from the inner corner of my eye to about an inch from the corner of my mouth. Whoa! One week later and I have probably a good size hole in my nose that is covered by a skin graft taken from behind my ear. Bandage doesn’t come off until this Friday so I haven’t seen that one yet.
I don’t consider myself particularly vain. Minimal if any makeup most days. Hair is fixed to go out in public. That’s about it. Well, when you see yourself in a mirror looking like you just left the ER after a bar fight…suddenly vanity shows up. I was quite horrified. No one has been as happy about pandemic mask wearing as I have been for the past week!
Ok, stitches came out last Thursday, right after the new hole in my nose was added. I don’t know what my nose will look like, but the stitches are healing nicely on my face. In about 3 months I should know what the final scar will look like. I’m making up exciting stories to tell to nosy people about how I got said scar across my face. I’ve been cutting my own hair during the shut down and I could add a badass haircut to the deal. Creative wheels are turning.
While laying in bed listening to marauding raccoons breaking into our sunroom (that is another whole story for later), I had the thought that my 2020 face goes right along with the 2020 year. It hurt like hell (no lie!) and it has been shocking and scary, but several long time cancers have been removed for good. There are going to be scars, no way around it, but hopefully the worst is over and the healing can begin. I truly hope the same can be said for our world.
You all be safe out there and kind to each other. We still have a lot of 2020 to go yet.
Featured Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash
Pencils, Paint & Paper 