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. 

More Lip Service

My dermatologist was able to squeeze me in to have my lip zapped on Wednesday. Even though that is my favorite pickleball day, I just wanted to get on with trying to get my lower lip healed. Even if that meant making it worse to get better.

I'm no stranger to the torment of liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy), having had many spots frozen on my skin over the past 30 plus years. But I have never had my lip treated with it, and was warned that it would hurt and look bad for at least a week. I figured that was one way to help me along with my class reunion diet - less likely to eat if your mouth hurts, right?

It did, indeed, hurt like a son of a gun when she froze the two spots on my lip. It brought tears to my eyes for sure. Maybe that's why it's call cryotherapy? But once that settled down, the pain has not been bad at all. It is difficult to eat without bumping the sores, and my lip looks horrible. It looks so bad that when I had to do some errands yesterday, I wore a mask. There was no reason for the people in the bank or stores to have to see that mess. I'm hoping it looks better over the next few days, and I'm really praying the zapping does the trick. The doctor did warn me that sometimes it takes two tries! 

The best news I got at the doctor's office is that my biopsy from July 29th came back negative. So at least I don't have to schedule an ED&C for the spot on my right shoulder. Now if the lip behaves, I won't have to go back there until my 6-month appointment in January.

lip cryotherapy

What's Up, Doc?

biopsy

Yesterday was my regular six-month checkup with the dermatologist. She froze one spot on my right cheek that has been continually peeling. Unfortunately, she also saw a spot on my right shoulder that she felt should be biopsied. That wouldn't have been too bad except it is right where my bra strap sits. I am highly sensitive to any adhesives, and I've yet to find any bandage that does not make my skin break out in an itchy rash. While the wound doesn't necessitate a bandage, the fact that I have to keep it smeared with vaseline and its location make it impossible not to keep it covered for a few days.

But I was most interested in hearing what the doctor thought about my lip situation. I showed her a photograph from when it looked its worst, and she does not think it is due to cold sores. She believes it is severe lip damage. I don't know what caused it to react so extreme as I wear a big-brimmed hat if I am going to be outside, as well as Z-Block on my lips. 

She wanted to use the liquid nitrogen on my lip, which she said would hurt and look bad for about a week. As we have company coming today, I did not have her do it. She said just schedule it when it's convenient for me. When would that be? When is it convenient to have your lip look awful for a week, and have issues eating and drinking??? In the meantime she called in a prescription for an ointment that should at least make the lip feel better until I can get that done.

Our community brought in a gal from the Carolina Raptor Center yesterday afternoon to talk about their organization as well as raptors we might see in our area. She was great and very enthusiastic about her job. What I wasn't expecting is that she would bring three birds with her. She also had talons, a small skull and bird wings to show us. It was a wonderful presentation, and well worth missing our normal Wednesday pickleball session.

Carolina Raptor Center

Read My Lips

It's now five weeks that I have been dealing with lip issues. My bottom lip is much improved, no question. But it is still sore and sensitive. I have my six month skin check with my dermatologist on Tuesday, so I decided to wait it out to see what she has to say. Hopefully there is just some prescription cream I can put on to finally heal it up. I'll also be hoping that she doesn't see anything that needs to be burned off or biopsied. We have guests arriving on Thursday and I don't want to have to deal with any of that while they are here. Fingers crossed...

The dog days of summer have certainly been here. We had excessively high heat here, like a lot of the country. We were in a drought, but this week brought us some much-needed rain. It was great to get a break from the daily watering of our outdoor plants. The temperature has also been a bit cooler the past few days.

We so enjoy having the lake out our back door. The other day we watched an eagle fishing. He caught such a big catfish with his talons that he could not lift up out of the water. Instead he channeled his inner Michael Phelps and did the breast stroke across the lake. When he got to the shore, he rested and had himself a feast. My camera lens isn't long enough to capture an image that far away, but it was certainly something to see. Fortunately I can always get a nice sky picture from my backyard.

Mountain Island Lake

Lip Service

damaged lips

Ever since we returned from visiting our daughter in Los Angeles last month I have been having a problem with irritation on my lower lip. Because I wore a wide-brimmed hat and use Z Blok on my lips, I was surprised to have any issues. To be fair, my lips are always sensitive due to prior sun damage. With my history of 19 skin cancers to date, my dermatologist had suggested a couple visits ago that I put a chemotherapy cream on my lips due to the sun damage. I've used the cream once on my forehead with dreadful side effects, so I did not jump on that suggestion. I don't know how you would eat or drink during that treatment. 

Regardless, my lips have gotten worse over the past two weeks, to the point where I was indeed having problems eating and drinking. My usual Carmex didn't help, nor did Vaseline or Aquaphor for lips. Concerned that I might have an underlying infection going on, I called my dermatologist first. She is on vacation, so they suggested I go to my primary care doctor. She also is on vacation, but one of the other physicians could see me last Tuesday.

After asking me a lot of questions and looking at my lip, he feels that this is just a cold sore. While I admit that I do get those on occasion, they are always on my upper lip and I have never had them spread across the entire lip. It also did not start out with the usual tingling sensation I get when a cold sore is coming on. He prescribed Valacyclovir, which is a drug used for cold sores and also shingles, chicken pox, etc. You only get four pills and take two at a time, twelve hours apart. He also said to use Abreva on my lip.

My pharmacy did not even get them in until Wednesday afternoon, so I took the first dose at 5:30 p.m. Sadly I was awake early enough the next morning to take the next two at 5:30 a.m. Unfortunately, this medicine works best if you take it just as you experience the first symptoms, and I was already two weeks into my ordeal.

The good news is that I did not suffer any side effects from the drug. That's good to know for the future when I get another cold sore. But while the lip definitely looks better, it is still not 100%. I have not been going outside during the day at all as I don't want to experience a setback. The doctor said if it didn't get better, and for sure if it got worse, to let them know as it might turn out to be a different kind of infection. I'll probably see how things go over the next few days before I make any decision on the next steps.