Busy bee

I predicted that I would have two squamous cell cancers, but the spot on my lip turned out to be nothing. The one on my arm was the usual, squamous cell "in situ," like so:

SKIN, RIGHT FOREARM, PUNCH BIOPSY:

SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN SITU, possibly arising in a verruca, extending very

close (less than 0.2 mm) to the edge of the examined profile.

Once it is healed I will need to apply chemotherapy cream again. It is no big deal, but it has turned out to be more than the usual nuisance because it has gotten infected. Usually it stings for the first couple of days and then calms down, but this one has hurt more with each day.

It is nice to feel free to email a doctor at home, which is what I did last night, attaching a photo of the gorgeous thing. My doctor replied to continue using the antibiotic cream that I already figured I should apply, and she might also call in a prescription for an oral antibiotic. What's one more pill, right?

I had a busy three days in New York, "sleeping around" in three different locations: with my cousin Nancy in an apartment she rented in the Village, then uptown to Riverside Drive to stay at my friend Margie's, and finally at Ben and Meghan's in Fairfield on my way home.

Don't ask.

It was a crazy time to be in the city. The UN was in session, and it took forever to go just a short distance. But it was worth it. It was amazing to see  Raining Jane and Jason Mraz play at Radio City Music Hall Tuesday. Wednesday was a "day off," followed by Rosh Hashanah services at the 92nd street Y and lunch with Ben and cousins at a nearby deli, where I enjoyed my traditional meal of a club sandwich and a Coke.

I had planned to take a subway after services to a family gathering in Queens, but when I thought about lugging my luggage back and forth, it fell into the "what were you thinking" category.

I simply cannot walk up or down stairs without holding onto a railing, and going into and out of subways sometimes turns into a challenge. People jostle for handrail space, and I run the risk of being picked off, even though like a true New Yorker I try to stand my ground. I am just not as fast or nimble as I used to be, and that does not help.

Yesterday I went to the Big E – the giant fair near us – after not having gone for many years. You would think I might have rested, but it just kind of came over me that I wanted to go. My friend Mary had the same idea, so we went together with her husband, Jerry.

The meals in New York were delicious, but the baked potato with "the works" at the Maine building was equally yummy. It definitely was an interesting contrast to go from the streets of New York to the fairgrounds of Massachusetts.