Know what sucks? Skin cancer. What sucks even worse? When it's on a spot as visible as your nose and you have to have it cut open not one... but twice!! And this is coming from someone who (I thought) has been pretty sun safe. And this is my second time. Lessons learned? Skin cancer spots don't always look like what they tell you they look like!
That first picture is about two hour post-op on my nose. I had a weird spot on my nose, it looked like eczema and it wouldn't go away. One day I picked it, it started bleeding and I knew that wasn't normal. So I scheduled a dermatologist appointment and had it checked out. They did a biopsy to be safe. He didn't think it was anything. Turns out about a week later they called to let me know that it was squamous cell carcinoma. They went ahead and scheduled me for surgery.
Then a week later I got a call from the doctor who would perform the surgery asking me to come in to take a look. Since it's on my nose and there isn't much extra skin, he wanted to take a look. Turns out, if he stitched it like normal, I'd end up looking like a pig and my nose would turn up at the end. So they rescheduled me for a time that worked for both the doctor and the plastic surgeon. Which kind of terrified me.
So I go in for this surgery. It's cold and they cut into my nose, take the sample, test the sample and I wait for like 30 minutes. They came back in, told me I'm clear and I'll just wait for the surgeon. So I wait with an open gash and refuse to look at my face. Surgeon comes in, explains what he's going to do, I'm grossed out and don't listen. My only request, I asked him not to make me look. Cause last time this happened, they kept showing me and I almost vomited on the doctor. I can't see that!
So we finish, Brian picks me up. I go home, get in bed, rest and then decide we should go out for tacos and margs. WHY did I go out like that?! Brian said he wondered if people though he hit me? But we're thinking since the bandages were so large and we were in the heights, people probably thought I just had a nose job :)
I had to keep that massive bandage on for 48 hours. This was post removal on the Sunday after. I cried so much when we took it off. I knew it was going to be a lot but it's like my whole nose!! They had to take some skin out and move some down and go zig zag for reasons that escape me now. I was so swollen for days. Black eyes, bruising, it was rough.
This is 72 hour post-op.
2 weeks post-op.
Then because I love looking weird, I went in two months post-op and had them "sand it" all down so make the skin smoother. And had to heal.. yet again.
One month after all that. And looking mostly fine. But a couple months later a section of my nose started to sink. And got worse. We tried to determine if a steroid shot or some filler would help.. but the plastic surgeon said it would be more effective to cut back in, take out some skin and stitch right up. Seemed easy enough.
Went in on a Tuesday afternoon, thought it would be so easy! OMG I left with a massive bandage and I couldn't see out of my peripheral vision hardly cause it was so large. Needless to say, I stayed home the next day. And took off the bandages 24 hours later to see the above. I don't know that I knew what I was signing up for this time. The bruising, black eyes, and blood all were back.
The swelling was so bad on one side this time. But this was 48 hours post-op. They cut the bottom, I guess zig zag is best cause the eye doesn't follow it. Straight lines are followed by the eye. So they say. And then they "sanded down" the top part again since I was going to be all red anyway.
I stuck close to the house over the weekend so not to get crazy looks. Although I received plenty. Sometimes I just want to scream, IT'S SKIN CANCER!!!! My headphones were dead so I stole Emmy's. They were actually super comfy.
72 hours post.
1 week post. It's actually insane how our bodies heal. Which is why I documented this entire thing. I can still tell but Brian swears it looks amazing and he doesn't notice. Maybe a year from now I'll be with him. In the meantime, I'll be wearing hats and slathering my body with SPF!! XOXO
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