Round 6

When we got home from vacation, I had to have surgery on my forehead & tomorrow I am going in for surgery on my back. My 6th surgery in the past 5 years, all resulting from bad skin checks. They biopsied 2 spots over the Christmas holidays & both came back with bad margins. Since we already had the cruise planned, I decided to wait to have them taken care of when we got back.

First up, my forehead. They found a small red spot on my forehead a few months ago. They asked if it was a pimple & honestly I didn't know. Fast forward 3 months later for my next skin check & it was still there. This time they biopsied it & was basal cell carcinoma, which is still considered skin cancer but not as dangerous as melanoma. Unfortunately my regular dermatologist didn't feel comfortable performing the surgery, so he referred me to a specialist in Plano. Normally they perform the surgery & cut away the infected area & then biopsy afterwards. This specialist is trained in MOHS surgery so they were able to cut a small piece & biopsy on site while I waited. It takes longer to do it that way, but then they don't have to remove excess skin & tissue. Luckily they caught it early & they removed all of the cancerous cells on the first cut:

It was a fairly simple out patient procedure that I had done while the girls were at school. My incision was about 1 inch long & I had 13 stitches but they were able to do it horizontally so eventually the scar will blend in with some of the deep wrinkles I have in my forehead. I guess that's the only time I am grateful for wrinkles!

I had a continuous headache for a few days but I was able to minimize any swelling or bruising by keeping an ice pack on it for the first 48 hours:

I finally got creative & figured out how to keep an ice pack on without holding it so I could still get stuff done around the house:

I got my stitches out yesterday so at least I don't have to walk around with a big bandage on my forehead anymore but now I have a nice scar that will hopefully fade in the next month or two.

Tomorrow I go back to my regular dermatologist for another surgery on my back. This time it is a dysplastic nevus, which is basically a fancy term for an atypical mole. It had severe margins that they are concerned will turn into something cancerous if I don't do anything about it. So, that will be my 6th surgery, 4th in the past 12 months. 2 dysplastic nevus, 3 basal cell carcinomas & 1 melanoma. I feel like I turned 35 & then all of the sudden started having all sorts of skin issues. I guess I should be content that we have good insurance & that I finally found a good dermatologist who I trust. I would rather have minor surgeries to remove the cancerous cells now before they spread. My prayer is that I am doing a better job taking care of myself now & being a positive example for our daughters so they won't go through the same thing when they are older.