Phew! Nice to be back! My site has been down for a bit and now it’s back. Yay!

No new doctor visits or anything, although I did discover that I have a new spot above my eye. Is this what it is going to be like from now on? Every time I look in the mirror, I’ll see something new? Oy.

Obviously, I’ll keep an eye on it (or under it, as the case may be!), but I’m sure it’s another in what has been and will be a long line of me thinking “Hey! Where did that come from? Do I need to worry?” moments.

Anyway, I’m back.  I’m playing around with the site (as I’m sure you noticed). I’m not sold on this theme, so don’t be surprised if it is different next time you come back!

Yahoo has a photo gallery / article about recognizing skin cancer. Check it out here. 

Ok, so definitely not cancer, so YAY!!!

It was a

wart.

EEK!!!!

And it might come back!

But at least it isn’t cancer!!

As previously mentioned, I was trying to get in to see my Dermatology team (team because I rarely see the same doctors twice, being a teaching hospital and all). Today was that appointment.

This one made me nervous.

The little thing on my lip started out like a pimple, progressed to more of a mole then, after it bled a number of times (no, I didn’t bug it, but it was on my lip, so I hit it a few times!!)

The resident looked at it with her fancy magnifying mirror and wasn’t concerned, but said she would defer to the doctor – a benefit of being a resident – which made me laugh.

The doctor pronounced it some variety of a granuloma. And I was happy because the words basal cell or melanoma or squamous didn’t come out of her mouth.

She did the rest of my check and pronounced me all good (minus that goofy thing on my lip), and instructed the resident to take that off and send it to the lab to verify what it is.

The resident was fantastic, had a soft touch and kept me comfortable. It took longer for her to make it numb that it did to remove it!

So, in a week she will call and let me know what it was. In the meantime, we are all pretty confident it’s not cancer.

I’m relieved.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be waiting for the dermatology office at U of M to open (of course, it’s the one day of the week they open at 10 instead of 8:30!).  I’ve had this bump above my lip for a couple of weeks now.  I knew it wasn’t a cold sore/fever blister because, trust me, I know those things.  I figured it was a pimple that just wouldn’t go away.

It’s changed a little (ding! ding! ding!), and it actually seemed to be drying out and going away. Yesterday morning, I picked at it – it seemed like dry skin!  It started to bleed.  It bled pretty well, but eventually stopped.   Last night, I accidentally itched it and it started to bleed again. When I finally got it to stop, it only took a few minutes before I grazed it with my hand. Yep, bloody mess again.

In bed last night, I was googling ideas for pimples that keep bleeding. Cancer came up and my stomach dropped.

DUH.

Shouldn’t skin cancer be the FIRST thing I think of??

Basal, squamous, maybe nothing.  But obviously, I better get it checked out.

Fingers crossed I can get in quickly and they laugh at me and my adult acne.

It hasn’t bled today, but it looks like a blister or a pimple.

I can tell when it’s really humid out or when I’ve had too much salt or done too much walking because my ankle swells and my leg feels weird. It’s a restless leg syndrome type thing and it’s so very annoying.  One of those lovely side effects to losing some of my lymph nodes, I guess.

I’m fairly certain there are parts of my leg that will never regain feeling – but, I’m lucky.  The numbness is on the surface; my leg is still fully functional.

But when I get phantom itching or random twinges or twinges that run all the way up and back down my leg for hours, it’s hard to remember lucky and not just be annoyed (or slightly panicked, to be honest) by it.

My last check ups have been perfectly fine.  I haven’t noticed anything odd.

But that doesn’t mean that those big twinges or odd feelings don’t make my heart leap into my throat every once in a while.  I suppose that’s a feeling that probably never goes away.

*ok not 412, but seems like it!

Sitting in my oncology office, waiting for Dr. L. I was surprised to be told I needed blood drawn this time since I just had it done last time (6 months ago). Which of course makes me wonder: new protocol or something fishy in last results? Luckily, here at U of M the blood draws are done 2 floors down and every one of the phlebotomists are awesome. Back up to this floor, paperwork filled out (pretty sure I could do those papers in my sleep now!) and weight and BP taken.

———

I was just checked out by a nurse. She assured me Dr.L would be here “in a little while”. While he’s usually pretty busy, today is a little odd. I fear he’s giving someone bad news and going through options.

It’s already 11:49. My appointment was for 11:00 and I was early. Unlike most people, while I am a wee annoyed, I’m not freaking out or anything. Yes, it’s cutting into my productivity for the day, but it’s much more important to get the all clear.

——-

12:03. Someone finally turned on air conditioning. I’m still hot, but swaying with this lovely gown on is creating a breeze.

——-

12:38 walking out to my car.

All clear on the melanoma front!! Yay!!!

Back in 6 months!

{Some slight concern about something they saw in my liver levels starting back when all this began, but since it’s “not melanoma” he’s sending a letter to my PCP to see if he wants to run additional tests. Sounds good to me!}