Don't Get Into A Knife Fight With A Surgeon.

I had that little outpatient surgery to remove the small skin cancer near my eye Wednesday. It is an interesting procedure that I hope y'all will forgive me for not wanting to do it again real soon. I had thought that the Doc would simply remove surface skin. Nope. I didn't get a great look but he cut out enough to completely submerge a single ought buckshot. Then the nurse's aid bandaged it up and I went back out to the waiting room and read and drank coffee for about an hour and a half.

This was all done under Novocaine. That was what I worried about more than anything, a certified nurse's aid so close to my eyeball with a needle the size of a Zulu spear.

While I was sitting there a lab worker was examining the lump of flesh ripped from my face. Most times the Doc has to cut two or even three times to make sure he gets it all. Since I never did get half as purty as Momma wanted me to be I told him to cut a little extra. Who'd notice a scar on this face?

Sure enough, it worked and he got all the cancerous cells out on the first try. So then he did some fancy sewing, that "thread" that dissolves because it is under the skin and followed that by some extra fine stitching on the skin flap over the hole. I should end up with a very thin and fine scar shaped like a "T" with the more or less vertical part most of an inch long and the crosspiece about half that. With the stitching as tight as it is I doubt anyone will notice in a year or two.

There is a little pain, not bad. I take a Darvocet at night but I don't think I'll need them much longer, I'll switch to Tylenol. It does itch, though. I had some old Cortisone cream for bug bites around, I just spread some on it, we'll see if it works.

Anyhow I am now cancer free. I look like I took a jab in the eye from a young Sonny Liston but it's not the first black eye I ever had. Although at my age one would think I'm done with that.

The Doc that does this surgery does no other kind and he stays quite busy enough doing it. I have no idea what this cost my insurance but I bet it is easily well into four figures, even though it took way under an hour, except for the waiting around. I got there at eight AM and was walking out at noon.

All I can say is wear a hat big enough to shade your face.