Tomorrow I’m scheduled to have my face ripped apart for mistakes I made as a teenager. (OK, so I’m exaggerating a little.) I am not looking forward to it, not one bit.
I’m scheduled to be there at 9:45. And it can take anywhere from 3 to 7 hours. Judging by the size of my spot, I’m hoping it’s just 3. The weird thing about MOHs, and the reason that it takes so long, is a patient remains on the premises until every last piece of cancerous tissue is removed. MOHs is often done on the face because it’s best to not have too much skin removed, at the same time they don’t want to leave any of it there and possibly make for another procedure.
Here’s what my day will look like: I will be numb. They’ll remove a layer, take it to the lab (on-site), I’ll go into the waiting area, read, knit, whatever, while they run tests to find out if that particular layer is cancerous or not. If it is, they remove another layer. This continues until the labs comes back showing no signs of cancer. There’s really no way of knowing how long this will take. And it’s a little disconcerting that my first real time spent away from Emory will be spent having my face carved into.
Ah, pregnancy. Next up, I check and see why all of my joints ache and I have trouble walking in the morning.
The good news is, I am 2 pounds lighter today than I was five days ago.
Part of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), where one writes every day for the month of November, which is easier said than done.
knitting seems like the way to go – good for taking your mind off of everything going on around you. plus emory will get a nice sweater out of it. :) expect lots of positive vibes coming your way from chicago for a speedy and successful procedure!
That sucks Michele. Hope all goes well and if it’s any consolation my friend Andrew had one taken off the top of his head last year and I ran into him at the video store later that very day acting like nothing happened.
PS: I too used to slather myself in baby oil and iodine and roast myself in the backyard
Good luck tomorrow, Michele! I’ll be sending good, not-too-many-layers vibes your way.
Good luck, sweetie. When you’re up for it, we’ll get together and have that drink. ;)
Good luck tomorrow!
Good luck tomorrow, Sweetie. I’ll be thinking of you and hoping it goes as quickly as possible.
xo
Good Luck.. sending you healthy, healing thoughts right now.
i’ll be thinking of you today! hugs
Best wishes and a speedy recovery!
Just this morning I was given a biopsy result of basal cell and set up with an appointment for Mohs. I got into work after the diagnosis appointment and saw a link to you from Dooce and noticed this post. Thank you for writing about it. I hope the day was relatively simple and that you’re recovering well.
you are darling! just blog stalking and came across. i just had a “fun” dermatologist visit on halloween day of all days. left me with a bunch of unsightly brown spots all over my face, which I swear will turn into pink scars, i will be so pissed. just venting.