Waiting for the Doc

I spent my morning in the Dermatology Center of Southern Indiana, having a Basal Cell Carcinoma removed from my right temple. They did a type of surgery called Mohs surgery, where they remove the cancer growth a layer at a time. Between each layer they send you out to the waiting room while they examine the tissue, which takes about an hour. Once they remove a layer with no more cancer cells, they patch you up and let you go home. I was there for four hours. Fortunately they only had to remove two layers, other wise I could have been there all day. Now, I have a mass of stitches buried under a pressure dressing. I'm supposed to take the dressing off tomorrow and wash it and then apply an antibiotic ointment and another bandage. Monday I go back in and have the stitches removed. Since it's all covered up, I haven't even seen how many stitches I have. I'm a little nervous about taking the bandages off tomorrow. I hope it's not too horrifying.

Anyway, this pictures is the view from the table where I had the procedure done. I snapped this picture while the nurse and doctor were out of the room. That head profile drawing sitting on the counter represents my head. You probably can't see it in the photo, but the doctor sketched in the area that needed to be cut out. Anyway, I'm glad it's all over with. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope that my insurance covers most of it.