I had another four needles yesterday. By now you’ve probably come to realise that I don’t like them one bit. I know they’re mostly a necessity, whether they’re they’re to prevent illness or pain. Yesterdays were to numb the pain as I went back for a second excision of this melanoma.
The initial plan was to have the skin flap surgery, but when I got to the doctor it wasn’t necessary. Instead, he’ll just cut out more. Melanomas need about 5mm of skin around it removed they say, and first time ‘round he got 2mm. Maths has taught me that meant I needed just 3mm more to be good, but we went further, going another 5mm. So it’s a 7mm barrier cut around the melanoma, hopefully it doesn’t grow back.
I got a bunch of stitches, some internal, some external. There’s about 12 external stitches along a two inch slice and my arm is killing me. I kept waking last night in pain and today hasn’t been much better. I write this at work tonight as I’ve finally got some time spare. It’s hard to do simple things when you can’t move your hand without your arm bringing pain. I had to shower one handed earlier, and drinking a drink in the car – almost impossible! I had to pick it up with the left hand, put in my right hand to drink, then back to my left hand to put in the cup holder. Too much inconvenience.
Everything at work is done one-handed, too, from check-ins to phone calls to setting up the conference room. I won’t be installing that new clothes dryer on the wall tonight, in case you were wondering.
I didn’t faint, either, so that’s two for two. Oh yeah! It must be the chocolates the nurses gave me that did it. And the sunscreen samples. And the early 2000s pop-rock music they were playing.
In other news, I now have a hat with mega-wide brim, and super-expensive La Roche Posay SPF50 sunscreen (which probably works just as well as regular supermarket SPF50 sunscreen, but three times the price because it’s French). Along with this long sleeve shirt I’m now set for another hot and humid, forever long Queensland summer.
