Today Was a Day

Today was a day I was not looking forward to.  It was the Skin Dr. appointment day that has been on the calendar for a couple of months.
 
I had had two little places on my neck looked at in June, and sure enough, I was a candidate for surgery (outpatient, thankfully).  After 2 appointments, three biopsies were taken (one of the irritations I was completely  unaware of).  Sunscreen is the keyword, here.  I experienced a couple of bad burns in my youth; enough to know that my only pale skinned remedy for life, would be to steer clear of the sun for too long.

As I sat in the empty waiting room for them to call me today, I quickly bowed my head, praying that things would go fine.  It made me recall other waiting rooms throughout my life that I had closed my eyes and  silently pleaded in prayer for things to go fine.  It's funny, how many times and places those kind of prayers occur, and how meaningful they are. 

They called me back and proceeded to make small talk, relieving some of my anxiety.  But, I did have a question or two.  Since they would be working on my neck, I wanted to make sure the Dr. knew how delicate some of those veins are (in case he forgot).  I had been practicing at home and had come up with some crafty pinches to hold the skin away from my "life".  I was prepared to show him.  When he described his own pinching the skin away, I knew we'd be OK.  He assured me that he had never had problems before and let me know it was his goal to never have those problems in the future.  I felt better knowing we were both on the same page about that.

He also told me the surgery today would be on the mystery spot I hadn't detected, because it was the biggest (sheeeesh), and if I could get through this one, the other 2 would be a breeze.

It took him 2 tries before he was done.  I went from a quarter size scar the first try, to a half dollar size.  Then it was stitch up time.  More numbing, etc.  He would have made a great seamstress, I think, because when I ask how many stitches, he told me - 25.  He held out his hand when we were through, for a friendly handshake.  I shook it with a sigh of relief.  The nurse continued to patch me up.  She held up her hand in a sign language "C" with the fingers 4 inches apart to show me the size of the scar.  I'll be fine.  It's over.  I took my prescriptions and walked to the checkout window.   I scheduled the next surgery in two weeks.   I hustled to the car in the blazing sun and bowed my head gratefully again.

Only 2 more appointments  to go.