There's a damn hole in my nose!

A month ago I wrote here that my dermatologist had ordered up a $500 prescription of ointment.  When applied twice daily the ointment causes the skin to peel.  The idea is to eliminate the need to burn off pre- cancerous skin growths by removing them this way.  If done right they'll not come back again.

This morning I checked in my the dermatologist.

Doc:  Looking good.  Stop applying the ointment until Monday then start up again with once a day application and not twice.  Don't want to over do it.

Me:  Like I don't look bad enough?  My entire forehead is red with welts on top of the pre-cancerous growths.  Bob is definitely looking like a Leper.  Before I go would you look at an area on my nose.

Doc after looking at it:  "How did I miss that?  Did this just happen or have you had it for a while.

Me:  For a while.  It comes and goes.  I thought that it was a broken blood vessel.

Doc:  It's cancer, Bob.  You have options:  Radiation.  Freeze it and hope that it doesn't come back.  Apply the ointment you're using which might do the job eventually.  Or, cut it out.

Me:  What would you do?

Doc:  If it were one of my family I'd surgically remove it.

Me:  Slice and dice time, Doc.  Slice and dice that baby.

The procedure seemed to last forever.  First the injection of Novacaine smack dab into the nose.  He scraped and scraped.  And he burned and burned to stop the bleeding.  I just love the smell of burning skin in the morning.

Doc:  It was definitely cancer.  I got all of it and then some.  The lab report will let us know if I'm correct.

Now we wait to see if the growth comes back or if the lab finds that there's more of the growth to dig out.  I hate to think what the next step is if one of the other happens.  The Dermo says that he got all of it and then some.  Judging by the hole in my nose there's was plenty of "then some".  It's a pretty big dent in Bob's nose that's half the size of a dime and very deep.

Today Grace's school is honoring men and women who served in the arm forces.  There's an assembly with lots of singing with veterans in the spotlight.  I was going.  Was.   Bob's looking a bit too grotesque to be among 600 kids.  Think I'll sit this one out.

All said, I'm not really sweating this one out.  I'm thinking that it's all good.  But in the back of my mind there's this little voice that makes me worry just a bit about what could come next.  Worrying never helped anything.  And it won't help here, either.  I've got to quiet that voice in my head.