Monday, February 12, 2018

A Lot of Waiting

I expect to be gone most of the day, since I’m having surgery to remove the basal cell carcinoma I have on my temple. A surgery that could last 9 hours, only because they’ll take a little, send it down to the lab and wait to see if they got enough. If not, they cut some more out and send it to the lab. They'll continue this until the cut comes out clean. So I expect a lot of waiting.

And getting stuck with that needle to numb me. Why does lidocaine have to sting so much?

Here’s hoping I don’t have to get stuck a lot. And that maybe I can get some reading done. J

See you on Wednesday!

Stacy

5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I hope they get it all the first time. Thoughts with you today.

JeffO said...

Best of luck to you, Stacy.

Maria Zannini said...

I guess I don't understand their process. I had a friend who had a cancerous spot removed, but they took off the whole thing at once.

Maybe yours is different?

Hope it goes fast. Nothing worse than waiting at a hospital.


Stacy McKitrick said...

Great news! They did get it all on the first try. Thanks for all the good vibes! Nice that I don't have to spend my WHOLE day at the hospital.

Maria - They took the whole spot, but basal cell tends to be like an iceberg, more growth under the skin than on top. But when the cancer is in a visible spot (like mine was at the hairline), they don't want to disfigure me, so they cut a little bit at a time until it's all gone. And lucky for me, they got it all on the first cut. If you're interested, you could look up Mohs Surgery. That's the procedure they did on me.

Now I guess I wait until the anesthesia wears off to see how much it's gonna hurt. I'm hoping I won't need the medicine they gave me (or that Tylenol will work just fine).

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Whoo! Glad to hear they got it all the first time! Hope you're feeling better by now - and enjoying some reading time!