In and out of the deep freeze

No, I'm not referring to the polar vortex, but rather to the freezing that was done to spots on my face and hands yesterday.

I was relieved to find out at my dermatology appointment yesterday that none of the spots needed biopsies, but it was an unpleasant visit nonetheless. The idea is to get rid of the spots so they don't turn into cancer, and to that end Dr. Lin found 23 areas that needed treatment.

I know the exact number because the resident who did the job counted them up after she was done. Usually Dr. Lin does it, but yesterday she handed me over to the resident, saying to give me a "hard freeze" because she knew I could take it.

So the resident zapped and zapped again. She was very nice and kept stopping to say she was sorry. The worst one was the area on my lip that continues to bother me. When she was finished, my face looked like it had a bad sunburn. But it's all good if it keeps more squamous cell cancers from coming up.

In October, I will return for the deep fry, a.k.a. photodynamic therapy, or PDT, in which I basically get a layer of skin burned off my face. But as I said, anything to keep cancer away.