Back To Work. Hooray?

I’ll be headed to the plastic surgeon early this morning for my 7:30am appointment. If everything goes well, I should be getting my sutures removed and I’ll see what kind of nose scars I’m going to have. The surgeon is amazing, so I assume there won’t be any issues.

It’ll be nice to have a real shower without covering the bandages on my nose.

The bad news is I am going back to work today. It’s night work, which is usually much busier than day work, but I haven’t been there in a week, which means, there will likely be a ton of unassigned jobs my coworkers left for me. I’m only working today and tomorrow, since I missed the week because of the cancer.

Hopefully everything will be back to normal on the blog from here on out. I feel better – although still tired – but it may be another few days before I’m 100 percent.

The Nose Knows

Well, it’s that time of year… again. I’ll be spending the day at the dermatologist for my, wow, fifth Mohs surgery. Unlike the previous surgeries on the left side of my forehead, this one is on my nose.

When I had the biopsy, the doctor said the needle will be painful, and since I never had problems with needles before – mostly in the forehead – it never hurt. That said, a needle in the nose is really excruciating. What’s worse is the skin cancer came when I was in the Outer Banks, and I had sunscreen on every day and when I was jogging, I always wore a hat. It’s frustrating.

The surgery begins at 7:30am, and when they get all the cancer removed, I have to drive to Fort Washington – about a thirty minute drive – to get plastic surgery. Apparently, they are taking enough out of the nose that I’ll need a skin graft. Hooray.

Every other time I had the surgery, I went right back to work, but that’s ending today. I’m taking the rest of the week – if not more – until I feel better and the stitches start to heal.

The good news is I’ll be even more unattractive after this, as if that’s possible.

Thanks To The Lord

You probably know I had a colonoscopy on March 6th.

The pre-prep was really awful, despite the face they said the pills would be much better. They weren’t, since I had to drink 32 ounces of water after taking each of the twelve – TWELVE – pills! I was completely bloated and thought I was going to vomit.

Any hoo, I went to the colonoscopy, and my doctor did the procedure. About an hour later I woke up and the doctor was waiting for me by the bed. He said there was a polyp in my colon, and he removed it. Okay, that sounds good and all, but…

The doctor said, “I think it’s benign, but we’re going to check it for cancer, just in case.” I kinda stopped listening after that. One of my coworkers had colon cancer, and while he was in great shape, he didn’t last very long. Since his passing, I’ve been scared to death of colon cancer, and this freaked me out.

Well, the doctor called on Thursday and said the polyp was pre-cancerous, but because they got it removed, I’m in the clear. I’ll have to have a colonoscopy every five years from here on out, but I have no problem with that if it can keep the cancer away.

Here We Go Again

Yesterday I received a call from the dermatologist about the possible skin cancer on my nose.

As always, the biopsy was positive.

My surgery is scheduled for April 18th – four days before my birthday, hooray! – and while the procedure isn’t terrible, it’s the first time I am getting surgery on my nose.

When the dermatologist took the sample last week, he warned me the needles were going to be very painful. He wasn’t wrong.

He also said sometimes it’s difficult stitching the nose because there isn’t a lot of skin there.

The depressing part is I have been really good with sunscreen the past year, because I really don’t want any more surgeries. This will be my fourth procedure, but hey, maybe they can fix my nose and make me somewhat attractive.

Nah, no surgeon is that good.

Good News, Everyone! Cancer May Be Back

So when we were at the Outer Banks in August, I got a small batch of sunburn on my nose. I was diligent with the sunscreen, but it got past the goalie, so to speak.

My nose started to peel, and I left it alone, but a few days later I had a dent in the right side of my nose. It was small, and didn’t see to be an issue.

Fast forward to December. The dent was still there, but when I woke up every morning, it was bleeding. My next appointment with the dermatologist was in April and Mrs. Earp begged them to see me sooner. I have an appointment with the doctor at 9am, and hopefully they can tell me if it’s skin cancer – again.

It’s frustrating because the surgeries are getting more frequent, but also because I was very good with sunscreen this summer. When I was jogging, I always wore a hat and has sunscreen splashed on me every day.

I’ll let you know what happened when I get home. They likely won’t do a procedure today, but I’m assuming surgery is in the menu soon.

UPDATE: The dermatologist took a biopsy from my nose. The needles for that are excruciating, because the nose is so small. I should know the results in a week or so. They also said it’s difficult to do the surgery on the nose because there’s so little skin to work with, so I assume if this happens, I’ll be ever uglier afterward.

You Better Believe That’s A-Paddlin’

A British medical practice is getting destroyed after they accidentally sent messages to 8,000 patients. Unfortunately for the patients, the message claimed they had “aggressive cancer.”

Imagine scrolling through your inbox a couple of days before Christmas, casually reading heartwarming Holiday wishes, and then seeing a message from your medical center notifying you that you have “aggressive” cancer.

I’m going to guess most of these patients were very angry about this. Very, very angry.

Sending one person such a message by mistake would be considered a serious error, but sending that message to thousands of patients is nothing short of a catastrophe. The Askern Medical Practice in Doncaster, UK has around 8,000 patients and it is believed that, on December 23, it accidentally sent a cancer notification to most, if not all of them. The text informed recipients that they had “aggressive lung cancer with metastases” and advised them to fill out a special form for people with terminal diseases.

Panicked patients started calling Askern Medical Practice immediately after receiving the terrible text only to be put on hold, which only exacerbated their anxiety. Luckily, the nightmare was short-lived, and only about an hour after the first text patients received a second message telling them that the first one had been a mistake.

Obviously, this was a terrible mistake, but I can assure you a lot of patients may be seeking other doctors from here on out.

Oligarch: Putin May Have Blood Cancer

An unidentified Russian oligarch is claiming Soviet tyrant Vladimir Putin may be suffering from blood cancer, and may also be affected with Parkinson’s Disease. May the Lord forgive me, but I sincerely hope this is true.

An audio recording of the oligarch’s comments was obtained by a Western venture capitalist and shared with New Lines magazine, the publication said.

In it, the oligarch – who has close ties to the Kremlin and named only as ‘Yuri’ to protect his identity – claimed a number of the health problems Putin is believed to be suffering from are linked to him having blood cancer.

Normally I would dismiss these kind of stories, but there have been more than a few rumors that Putin’s health has been poor recently. plus, the Daily Mail is usually pretty accurate with their stories.

One example given was Putin’s lower back problems. The Russian tyrant underwent surgery on his back in October 2021, just a few months before he ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Other examples cited by the magazine included Putin’s increasingly puffy face – a possible indicator of steroid use in his recovery – and the fact that he appears to be walking with a limp.

Other sources have claimed in recent months that Putin, 69, is suffering from Parkinson’s. He has been seen in public less frequently than normal, and when he is shown on television, his appearances are heavily curated.

I try to avoid gloating over people who pass away, but in Putin’s case, I will make an exception. The man is responsible for an untold amount of murders, and he should be compared to Stalin when it comes to violence against his own citizens.

Well, That Was Fun

Well, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is my surgeon was absolutely fantastic. He explained everything he was going to do, and didn’t beat around the bushes. I was told I may be in the office for an hour or for eight hours, depending upon whether all the cancer was removed. The first time I had Mohs surgery, it took nearly eight hours. Today? Ninety minutes!

The doc removed all the cancer in the first slice, and while he showed me the hole in my head – one of many – he said the entirety of the cancer was removed.

The bad news is he also stated the recurrence of the cancer is high, and in a few years, I may have to have another procedure. This time the cancer was in the same spot as the previous occurrence, and unlike the first time, I have fifteen stitches in my forehead, instead of the dozen I needed the first time.

Post-op, I was told I need to do practically nothing for the next few days. No exercise, no aspirin for pain – it could cause blood thinning – no heavy lifting, etc. Which means I’m not able to go back to work until Monday. They’ll remove the stitches Wednesday, and I’ll be back to normal again.

Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Oh, the picture of the stitches is below the fold for those who asked…

Okay, I Guess I Lied

While you are reading this, I am currently being filleted in the dermatologist’s office, but I wanted to post the nonsense I needed to overcome last night.

So, I walked into the building at 2:30pm, even though I my shift doesn’t begin until 3pm. I get there early because there is always a stack of reports waiting for me, because the substitutes never enter anything when I have a day off.

The day shift left us a suicide and two arrests, and we only had four detectives on the floor. So my stress started bubbling inside me. I reached over to the assignment bin, pulled out what seemed like a few pounds or so of paperwork, and lost my mind.

Monday’s substitute desk person left me twenty-eight unassigned jobs. On a decent night shift, we’ll see twenty-eight jobs in an eight-hour tour. I had to enter twenty-eight jobs before I could even start yesterday’s live jobs. After ranting about my coworker for a few minutes, I started entering the jobs at around 2:55pm. I was not finished with the pile until 6:35pm.

At the end of the night, I entered forty jobs.

I have never been angrier in my life, with the exception of Vica Kerekes’ marriage.

I’m Taking The Day Off

Well, with the exception of this post, which I put up yesterday.

Today, I will be submitted to Mohs surgery, a procedure which is used to fight basal-cell cancer. I had the surgery in 2006 on the left side of my forehead, and while all the cancer was removed, it came back to the exact same spot. The nurse I talked to said, “That rarely happens,” so that didn’t fill me with confidence.

The fact is came back at all surprised me, because I have been good with sunscreen, wear a hat often when I jog, and wear a helmet when I’m cycling. And the beach? Yikes, I practically dip myself into a pool of sunscreen beforehand!

The surgery is supposed to last the entire day – the doctor said it may be eight hours – because they cut out the layer of skin, check it for cancer, and continue the process until the cancer is gone. The last surgery left me with twelve stitches in my forehead, so I’m not confident I will be able to return to work tomorrow.

If we’re not busy at work, I’ll try to get a few posts up, but if it’s tumbleweeds around here, it’s because I’m recovering.