Good News Bad News

The Good News and the Bad News.

Well the good news is the grafting scar near my ear has healed incredibly well.  You can barely see it.  Some areas have a numb sensation but nothing bothersome.  My skin doesn't look crash hot in the pic because there is still the dressing tape glue.

Not so good news is that the graft didn't take.  It seems the graft skin and scab died before all the healing and tissue bonding happened underneath so a new graft needed to be done.  But the doctor is pleased with what he discovered under the scab.  Despite being a deep wound it is healing well.  I think the bleeding and perhaps the odd knock did not help the healing.
It's the cost that pains me the most.  First time was knee buckling, second time floored me and I had to call in some favours.

I washed my hair before the surgery today (oh the joy) as I know it's going to be a week or two before I can do it properly again.  Prior to that, I had my partner, David, wash my hair for me over the bathroom basin, so I didn't get the stitches wet.  I showed him the scene from "Out of Africa" so we could set the standards! Ha ha. We had a good laugh.  He complained I was not making the right "oh ah" noises that Meryl Streep made.  I complained his prose was not as good as Robert Redford.

Mohs Surgery - 1 Week After

It's been one week since I had the surgery. I didn't get my stitches out yesterday as I expected, but I now have less padding on my graft scar near my ear and the scab on my nose is looking very healthy.  It's too soon to put the oils on my nose but the doctor is very pleased with the healing.  I'm also going to try acupuncture to speed up the healing process and have started a very healthy dose of vitamin e.  hoping I will excrete the oil through my skin to help the scarring and healing on my nose. I didn't realise that the stitches on my nose are ones that dissolve  too!  So far, so good.

Post Mohs Surgery - Day 3 The nose is changing!

POST MOHS SURGERY - DAY 3
I just had to change the dressing again.  It seems the sebum from my nose makes the tape go sticky and yucky.  It itches like mad!  I knocked my nose 2 times in my sleep, I think in an attempt to scratch it in my sleep!
So after just 3 days, the graft is going black and scabby.  I'm hoping this is a good sign. I think the key is that the flesh is healing underneath!  Stitches out on Wednesday.  That's when the healing process really starts.  Back to work tomorrow.  Oh joy.

D-Day - The Mohs Surgery and stages.

So in the Plastic Surgeons clinic, I have the process begin.  It feels like the dentist!  I lay on the chair, a light is shone in my face and the chair is raised.  Ironically, I am terrified.  I've had 3 crowns and root canal.  THIS was feeling way more traumatic.  I can't relax myself in the usual manner of slowly breathing through my nose for obvious reasons!  I feel my blood pressure rising!!!!  I sit and wait in the waiting room.  I've read that the process can be harrowing.  As they look at the sample under the microscope and keep taking flesh away until no cancer is under the microscope.  My surgeon was very happy.  All gone, all good.  But I would definately be requiring a skin graft.  I had hoped to avoid this but onward and upward!

Post surgery

A few hours after general anesthetic I am still groggy but have the bandages from the skin graft.  I feel like I've done a few rounds with Ali.  They have taken a graft from in front of my ear.  Seems sensible.  I am mindful not to let the wound get wet but day 2 it seems to have been weeping a little. The nurse says this is normal. She's rung to check on me but says I can change the dressing if it gets wet. The dressing feels yucky and itchy and it's getting worse.  I think it's sweaty and yucky.  I follow instructions and change it.  Oh...my...god.

The graft is scary!  It looks like some alien piece of flesh stitched onto my face.  But I know that this "look" is normal for mohs skin grafts.
My main priority is to protect the wound and keep it dry.  I've bought some dry shampoo too.

The Mohs Surgery and Carcinoma - the story so far.

When faced with prospect of Mohs surgery, I really found others stories and pictures calming and reassuring.  So I thought I owed it to the "Internet Universe" to give back my story and to also make ME feel a little better/braver about the whole process.

This is me before the Mohs surgery.  Can you see the carncinoma?  Not really.  It was a clear mole like lump on my nose that would bother me and I would cover with make-up.  Occasionally, someone who knows me well enough to comment, might say "Hey, you've got a bump on your nose." (Yeah, thanks for that!)   But really you couldn't see it. 

 However in February 2014, I decided to have my annual skin cancer checks.  I mentioned it to the skin specialist.  He didn't seem to think it was troublesome but thought we should do a biopsy.  It was the new sort, that required a sample rather than a scraping.  When he localised the area, he thought that the skin of the lump puckered like normal skin.  He hesitated, did he really need to be taking a sample.  I said "I want you to be 100% sure, not just kinda sure". So away we went.  I was super confident.  I'm very sure it's not cancer.

I started to regret my actions, the wound looked horrible.  My colleagues at work thought I was quite amusing with my white nose.  So vain, I decided to cover the wound with a nice skin toned waterproof little band-aid.  Bad move!  It kept the wound moist and it infected. which I'm sure did not help with the scarring.  The stitching seemed tight and clumsy.  Yet, I discovered a little late the amazing medicinal value of therapeutic oils.  Applying melaluca (tea tree) and lavender to soothe the red inflamed skin and frankincence for the scarring.  Good stuff!

Stitches out and roughly 3 weeks later.

The results came back.  A base cell (and floating cell?) carcinoma!  So glad I went to the trouble of testing it!  Now after googling pictures of carcinomas I've seen many that looked like mine.  I think my doctor was used to seeing them on old farts!  He was concerned about the damage to my skin at such a young age (gee thanks, I guess youthful when others around you are old!)  He suggested I have mohs surgery to reduce the cosmetic impact.  

What a blow!  But taking this bull by the horns, I opted to research what this meant, what I was in for.  I kept applying the oils and the scar healed really well.  At least after the mohs I know what treatment to use!  I chose 1 of 2 surgeons available in Brisbane.  He confirmed for me that it was okay to continue using the oils through the healing process when I begin the mohs process.

So the lesion heals.  Really, you can't see anything on my nose, right?  But the cancer is there and left untreated it spreads, returns and eats away at the skin.  So I am following the advice of the experts.  So, I'm told that the process can sometimes involve just a little flap of skin pulled over the region.  It might be done in the day surgery and if needed, reconstruction done at the hospital.  Potentially skin grafts and down the track laser surgery to remove uneven blemishes or lifting the area to reduce indentations. I don't know what is the most distressing, this or the price tag.  Over $3000 (but actually ended up being more like $4000 with hospital bed fees!) See next post for the surgery!