Friday, April 17, 2009

Pictures! pineapple and other...

This is the latest photo of my little plump beauty. Very exciting!




I've included a picture that is set back a bit so you can see the whole thing. It's tilting at a severe angle because of all the winds we've had the past couple of months. One time I found the base OUT of the dirt, so I just piled some more dirt on top. It seems to be okay. I assume it'll be okay since I assume pineapples were designed to thrive in this weather.


Warning: exit now, ye of squemish heart.

I'm posting the pics I promised. Really, they aren't bad - the grey hair is quite horrible. And yes I have spotty, sun damaged skin along with the skin cancer.

Okay, first picture is a closeup. This is not a bad pic. It's practically healed compared to how it looked in January. Back then it was a bloody, crusty painful mess. You can see the cancer is the red round patch. That is the face of cancer. Remember it. Don't ignore it if you see the same on yourself or a loved one. The brown speckles are nothing.



This next picture is just there to give you reference as to size and location.




I had the procedure this morning. It didn't take long at all. They numbed me up really good, for which I am grateful. I didn't feel a thing. I had to wait about 20 minutes and then they came back and numbed me up for the next step (and cut more hair! yikes!). He said that he got it all the first time, so he was going to close me up. He had to make another cut in the "crows feet" line (I don't have crows feet!) (okay, I have one, I see it up in the previous photo) I was told that there'd be swelling and bruising and I have to come back in a week to get the stitches out. He said he disagrees with my squamous cell carcinoma diagnosis. He said he saw baso-squamous cell carcinoma. Which he said was like a hybrid of the two. But mostly basal. Which is good, because he can say the surgery cures the basal, while with squamous I'd still have a 5% chance of recurrence or spreading. At least that was my understanding.

So anyway, this is what I look like now with the bandage. I can see a little blue poofiness beside my eye - so that will become an ugly bruise.



The funny thing was when I walked out of the office, I had to go potty and I wanted to check things out. It felt funny, like my eyebrow was being dragged down by the bandage. Well, that's exactly what it looked like! It was so odd. I couldn't raise my left eyebrow because it had been numbed up. I always wanted to be one of those people who could raise one eyebrow! I feel much more normal now. But it's starting to ache a little. I refused a narcotics prescription and took a tylenol about an hour ago. I might just regret refusing that later on tonight. Hmmm. I might have some prescription strength tylenol left over from other surgeries. I'll need to dig through my cabinets.

Lordy, I need a haircut and color - can't do that anytime soon!

2 comments:

Pamela said...

I just had that done two weeks ago! Mine was on my nose..and much smaller than yours. Still hurts. He made a hole in my face! Sheesh!I just had my follow up visit yesterday and Doc said it looks good. He wants to see me in 4 mos. Good luck with yours. Keep it CLEAN!! But, you know all that!

Trish said...

Steph I can't believe with what all you've been through you now have to go through this! I hope it heals up quickly for you. Just keep up on it and don't forget to wear sunscreen. My cousin just had the same thing done.
You look wonderful by the way!
Trish