Out
with the stitches…on with the lavender essential oil. Lucky you, I’ll spare all
of you the gory details; but in a nutshell one week ago, I had a basal
cell carcinoma removed from right above my brow and the stitches were removed
on Friday. Before the doc removed those stitches he had to put many more in my
calf where he had removed another skin cancer.
The good news with the MOHS surgery, I got to lay
down for four hours while he opened, sliced, waited for lab results, sliced
again, waited for more lab results and then worked his magic and whipped in
those stitches. (If you are not familiar with the technique used to remove many
skin cancers, goggle MOHS surgery and you can read more about it.)
The
doc I went to is a MOHS Specialist, looks like he’s twelve years old, thus making Doogie Howser look like an old man! But, he was great – when he told me that he has done close to 10,000 of these procedures, that was enough to
assuage my doubt. Having worked in and around the medical/pharmaceutical world
for many years, it takes a lot to put me at ease when it comes to these types
of things; and, I am notoriously known for not being the best patient. It's okay, you can read "bitch" into that last sentence if you want! But,
after our initial conversation, where he explained in great detail the process and
prognosis, I was completely at ease and felt confident in his skills. Alert the media, a surgeon with good patient skills! Since the patient (me) is conscious with
only local meds during this procedure perhaps a charming personality is an
asset -- it sure worked for me.
As
for the healing part, I have had great success in the past with lavender
essential oil for healing and reducing the possibility of scarring. If you
haven’t read my post from long ago about my burn and my lavender treatment
experience, click here and you can see what that was all about. With these new incisions
I wanted to wait until the stitches were out before I started applying the oil –
so forehead starts today and calf won’t happen until after September 10th.
I’m not posting pix because they are pretty ugly – not that my burn pix from
that previous post was any better; but for some reason with the sutures in
place, the current ones look worse than it really is. Rest assured though, I am scoring good blogger
points by taking pix along the way; and, perhaps I will post a before
and after series. We’ll see. Meanwhile, I am just happy to have the two spots
clean of the damn cancer. I’m not out of the woods yet, as I have one more on my
shin that is being treated with medication, so hoping to avoid surgery with that one. Time will tell.
Rant
warning! The granny in me has to say it – while I know the sun feels great and
somewhere along the way some marketer got it in their wicked brain that having a tan
makes you look more beautiful, thinner, more confident, rich, younger…you know the
jargon. Well, I say poppycock! Honestly, the sun is not your friend! Even with an SPF, if you spend a lot of time in the
sun, as you age you will begin to look like a lizard and there’s a good chance
that you will end up with some type of sun-related skin cancer. So…it’s your
call. You can buy into the marketing lies and roast yourself in the sun and pay for it
later in life or protect your skin with hats, clothes and umbrellas. Yes, I love being outside and luckily I learned at an early age
to protect my skin from sun damage…but even with that knowledge, here I am at
65 having cancers cut out of my body that were there thanks to the sun. So,
if you hear some granny shouting “kids get out of the sun” know it’s just me
looking after you because I care.
P.S.
The organic lavender essential oil and balm shown in the pix here is from
Central Coast Lavender Farm & Apothecary in Paso Robles, California. And,
no, this post was not sponsored by them or the surgeon, for that matter! I just
believe so much in the power of lavender oil for healing that I want to spread
the word whenever I can. Oh, and the lavender blossom honey that found its way into the pix is from a local
beekeeper – so a tablespoon a day helps with my allergies. Voodoo? Not at all!
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