My Family

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

My father has had this wound on his face for at least nine months. I know, because I've been digitally removing it for quite some time.

The doctors and he put it down to a wound that would not heal because of his Diabetes, similar to the wound he has on his posterior. Everyone put it down to one of those things that he would just have to deal with.

Until a dermatologist saw it and in about two seconds diagnosed it as cancer. It was exacerbated by the fact my father had tried to shave it off. It gets worse because he picks at it.

Today, he gets to go visit his good friends at Kaiser for a four hour procedure. They are going to keep cutting it out until the lab tells them no cancer remains. The doctors tell him he should be home for dinner.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

All gone. 25 stitches.

[Drunk Monk]

Was that 25 external stitches or does that count internal ones too? Either way, that's a lot for the face.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Especially for a wound smaller than the tip of a pencil.

It was cosmetic surgeon who performed the procedure. I'm thinking that is why there were so many stitches.

[Drunk Monk]

that's bad. it means it had deep roots. hopefully they got it all.

use your sunscreen!

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

During surgery they made him wait while they sent the cut off piece to a lab to make sure there were no Cancer cells in the margins. If there were, they were going to do some more cutting. It is why they scheduled 4 hours for the surgery.

I just saw him via Skype. It looked nasty.

[cranefly]

I had a one-inch plug taken from the top of my head nearly 10 years ago. The guru surgeon lady worked on maybe six of us one day. I was the laggard, meaning that the others kept getting cleared after one or two rounds, but my tests kept coming back needing more. A long day. I never realized how deep the skin is on the top of the head. Maybe an inch deep. She took it all the way down to the bone, then did pinwheel cuts in all directions so as to draw skin elsewhere into the plug area. That way I didn't need tissue grafts from elsewhere. The one lasting effect is my hair stands on end in the front, like Laurel of Laurel and Hardy. Then again, that is going away because my hair is going away.

After the surgery, the skin was very tight (no forehead wrinkles anymore) over the top portion of my head, leading to terrible headaches the first few days as the capillaries had to readjust and so forth.

Anyway, from my experience, they seem to be thorough in the testing of the perimeters, so I'm thinking (and hoping) your dad won't have further problems there.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

You did it just so you would have a smooth forehead without all that botox nonsense, right?

[cranefly]

Yeah, botox falls under cosmetic, which my health insurance wouldn't cover. The resourceful workaround was to go with cancer surgery.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The male nurse was bent down checking the permanent wound on my father's buttock, a nice close look. My father farted

[Drunk Monk]

But then, I became curious as to how this all came out. It's a morbid curiosity, or perhaps a fetid one.

Did you witness this assault firsthand?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Yep.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I need somebody from Rock Med to come and talk down my father.

[Drunk Monk]

...After a story like that...srsly?

How did the nurse take it? Was your dad embarrassed or amused? Was it a brontosaurus level fart or a marshmallow peep? No offense, but I can't really visualize your dad peepin.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The nurse just took it in stride. Asked to make sure it wasn't more solid.

It was a trumpeter.