St. Patrick's Day

sunrise this morning

May your joys be as bright as the morning

And your sorrows merely be shadows

that fade in the sunlight of love.

Not Immune to Infection

today's sunrise

Well, unfortunately my ED&C surgery resulted in an infection. By Saturday the area around the excision site got red, warm and hard. Sunday the red area had increased in size and my arm began to hurt. First thing Monday I called the doctor's office and explained what was going on. They had me take a photograph of it and text it to them.

As the doctor was confidant that it was indeed infected, she ordered an oral antibiotic for me. I have to take it twice a day for 10 days. I'm now on the fifth day of using them, and the area definitely looks better than it did originally. I guess I was expecting it to be almost healed by now. The redness, warmth and hardness are gone, but the wound itself still has some oozing going on. That's probably normal, but with my allergy to adhesives, keeping a bandage on it has been very difficult so I really need it to dry up. I've been keeping it open to the air during the day, wearing only sleeveless shirts. So I have been pretty housebound for a week since I can't put a jacket over the open sore.

I did cover it up Wednesday evening as we had registered for a floral watercolor class that was being offered here in the neighborhood. It was nice to get out for a bit, and the class was pretty good. I need to work on some of the techniques we learned for sure. Some of my flowers definitely do not look like what they are supposed to be!

floral watercolor class

ED&C Number 4

basal cell removal

On Wednesday I had my fourth Electrodesiccation and Curettage (ED&C) performed to remove the basal cell carcinoma from my right arm - my 20th skin cancer surgery to date. As I have posted in the past, the dermatologist scrapes off the top layer of cells with a curette until healthy cells are revealed. Then an electrocautery device is used to apply small amounts of electricity to the treated surface to burn away any remaining cancer cells. This is performed as a less invasive cancer removal option.

As with every time, they bandaged the spot before I left. And as with every time, the skin in the area broke out in a rash due to my adhesive allergy. You technically don't need a bandage for the wound, but since I have to keep vaseline on it for two weeks, the bandage protects my clothes and sheets.

Today my arm is feeling sore and a little warm in the area of the excision. I have it totally uncovered except for the vaseline. I am a little concerned that it is getting infected. I'll keep an eye on it and call the doctor if necessary. Only once before has a skin cancer surgery resulted in an infection, so I guess I have been pretty lucky. I pray that my luck will hold in this case as well.

feeling lucky

While at the office I had the doctor treat two sun damaged spots on my lower lip with liquid nitrogen. She had done this once before in July of last year, but the spots came back. Does that ever hurt when she zaps them! So far they have not turned into large blisters like they did last time, but instead have gone directly to the draining stage. Hopefully this time will do the trick.