Work Monday was totally routine except I took time to wash down the pool deck. Washing down the pool deck is something I normally do on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but since I would not be at work Tuesday (day of my MOHS surgery) I did it Monday. By the time I was done it was almost 11 am, and by the time I finished with the horseshoe pits, and the mini golf area it was after 12 pm, and I had not had lunch.
Once lunch was done I only had 1.5 hours of work left, and frankly, 3 days later I cannot even remember what I did for those last 90 minutes. At any rate when 2 pm came around I headed for home to get out of the heat, and take a good nap, as I knew Tuesday had the potential of being a long day. I returned to the office by 4 pm to give TLE a ride home, and that was basically it for Monday.
I was up by 6 am on Tuesday as I needed to be at Dr. Rubin's office by 8:30 am for my 8:45 am appointment. The drive down to Poway was completely uneventful with us arriving at the doctor's office just before 8:30 am. I was called into the operating room about 5 minutes later, and by 8:45 am Dr. Rubin was taking off the first slice of my right ear (very top), and I was back in the waiting room awaiting the results by 9 am. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to analyse each 'slice', and by 9:45 am I was called back into the surgery. The lab results still showed basis cell carcinoma throughout the whole slice, so the doctor removed another slice of my ear for testing, and I was once again relegated to the waiting room to await the latest results. It wasn't until after 11 am that I was once again summoned to the surgery where I was advised that there was just a small area left where there was still basil cell carcinoma, and, hopefully, this would be the last slice.
In the waiting room after the first 'slice.....
By the time I was back in the waiting room it was after 11:30 am so TLE and I decided to head to a local Carl's Jr. about 1 mile away for a quick bite to eat to kind of change up the routine a little. We were back around 12:20 pm, and by 12:30 pm my name was called one more time, but this time I was directed to the doctor's office.....change is good, right? I was told by the attending nurse that all the 'margins' were clear, and the basil cell was all gone....whew! She advised that it would be about 30 minutes before Dr. Rubin could begin the 'repair' of what was left of my right ear. Finally about 1 pm I was summoned to the surgery again, and Dr. Rubin began to close the wound.
The whole point of MOHS surgery is to only remove what is absolutely necessary to be rid of the basil cells. In my case the doctor had to invade the cartilage at the top of my ear, and after repair it looks like a toy shark took a bite out of my ear. While I was sad to see the condition of my ear, I am grateful all the cancer is now gone. In about 4 months I will probably return for reconstructive surgery in which they will be able to fill in the 'shark bite' and mostly restore my ear. I say 'probably' as I am pretty sure I will have the reconstructive surgery done, but it may be that over time that I will get used to what my ear looks like now, and decide to leave it as it is. Right now I am inclined to have the reconstruction.
We were in the car about 3 pm headed over to COSTCO to pick up a few prescriptions, including a pain killer, and an antibiotic. My Brillinta prescription, which I had called in last Friday was ready, but we had to wait until almost 4 pm for the other two prescriptions. By the time we got home it was 5:05 pm.....a very long day. Needless to say I was tired, and just sat down in my recliner to rest. I don't think I moved again until after 7 pm.
I'm very glad we got the pain prescription as the ear began to hurt in earnest about 7 pm. I would say on a scale of 1-10 my pain was around 4, but by the time I went to bed it was down around a 1, and that is where it remained throughout the night.
Thank you for your patience, and as always, for stopping by!
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