Dermatology report

It was a good thing that when Dr. Lin told me Plan A for how to resolve the squamous cell on my lip, she quickly switched to Plan B, which was to NOT do Plan A.

Although the cancer is luckily not deep below the surface, it does cover a good portion of the top left part of my lip, so if I had another Mohs procedure, I would end up losing a third of my lip. Say what? I told her that the thought made me queasy. She said the lip would mostly regenerate itself, but still...

In the meantime, would I need to color in the area with lipstick?

Well, Plan B, which she prefers, is to burn the skin off that part of my lip the next time she fries the skin off my face. A lovely alternative, but a better one. The technical term for this procedure is PDT, or Photodynamic Therapy, which sounds a little better than "face fry."

I have set up a consult with Dr. Neel, the Mohs surgeon who removed the squamous cells under my eye and on my neck. She assured me that he would not simply start slicing away. If Plan B goes into effect, I would get the PDT some time over the winter.

While I was there, she froze some spots on my face and my hands. ZAP ZAP ZAP! I made little squealing sounds mixed with ouches. "I hope you don't mind the sound effects," I said. "No," she replied, "That makes it much more dramatic."

Saying I looked tired (which I was), she encouraged me to go to my sister's house and drink some water and get some rest. I went over and had a turkey sandwich and some water. I didn't really feel like taking a nap, so I went to Starbucks and headed out. 

I had to stop at the first rest area and take a nap. There were other people snoozing in cars, but I doubt they had only traveled 15 minutes or so. Oh well, it worked for me.

This morning I am heading down to New York, but I won't have to drive all the way because I am going to park at Ben and Meghan's in Fairfield and then Meghan will pick me up on her lunch hour and take me to the train. Thanks, Meghan!