Yet Another Basal Cell

June 10th was my usual six month checkup with my dermatologist. As usual she found several spots that are precancerous that she zapped with liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately she also found a spot on my left shoulder that she felt warranted a biopsy. Even worse, she told me that she is leaving the dermatology practice where I have been going since my move to Charlotte nearly seven years ago. She will still be practicing in Charlotte, but her new location is further away for me, and also does not have a Moh's specialist on its staff. With my history, I am guaranteed to need that again in the future. So I'll have to decide if I want to leave with her or not. My current practice will not have any female dermatologists at the location I go to once Dr. Seminar leaves. So that might influence my decision as well.

To no one's surprise, my biopsy came back positive for a basal cell carcinoma. I wanted Dr. Seminara to do the ED&C I knew would be required, so I quickly called to see if I could get in before her last day. For the first time, my call was handled by AI. The voice was so good it sounded like a human. It was only when the AI butchered saying Dr. Seminara's name that I realized it was not a real person on the phone. The AI said I couldn't see Seminara since she was leaving soon, and then told me I was being transferred to the Moh's surgery desk to schedule surgery. Fortunately I know enough with my history to understand I did not require Moh's, only an ED&C. But what if I didn't know that? Anyway, I insisted on talking to a real person, and I was able to get my appointment with Dr. Seminar, albeit at a different location than I normally go.

The ED&C went well, and I have now healed from the procedure. I just need to decide which direction I want to go so that I can get a six month appointment scheduled.

basal cell

Latest Mohs Surgery

basal cell after biopsy

As I posted previously, the biopsy taken on the spot on my left temple back in July came back positive as a basal cell carcinoma. The Mohs surgery could not be scheduled until September 25th. The specialist who performed my previous Mohs procedures is no longer with my dermatology practice, so this was my first experience with their new surgeon. He is fine, but I really liked the gal they had before. 

The surgery was scheduled for 8:45, but the doctor was late and didn't even get to the office until 9:10. Not a great first impression. He took the first cut around 9:30, and I was bandaged up and sent to a small waiting area with all the other walking wounded. Everyone else had bandages on their noses, so it must have been Mohs Nose Day or something. It was an hour before they took me back and said they did not have a clean margin on the piece removed. The surgeon said while the basal cell was not deep, there were still some cells along one of the sides that needed to come out. By the time he got done with me, the small waiting area was full, so I had to go out to the main waiting room.

A gal came out to get me a little after 12:00, and since she took me to a different area of the clinic I assumed they had gotten a clean margin on the second try. That assumption proved correct, as I was led back to the plastic surgeon's procedure room. I have had this plastic surgeon for wound closure every time they have done Mohs on me, so I'm very comfortable with him. He stitched me up, gave me my followup instructions, and the gal put a covering on the site. They are aware that I am allergic to every known adhesive on bandages and tape, so she put on a gauze pad and attached it with paper tape.  

This is my 22nd skin cancer removal, not all of them by Mohs of course. But this one has been pretty painful. When I removed the gauze pad after 24 hours as instructed, I was stunned to see how large the cut was. No wonder it hurts! For the first three days I alternated taking Tylenol and ibuprofen every four hours during the day. By the fourth day I was only taking them every six or seven hours.

Mohs surgery

Hopefully this wound will not get infected like the last two ED&C removals have done. I go in this morning to get the stitches out, and I am praying that the skin smooths out after that since the bottom third of the wound looks really rough.