3 New Holes

[quasigeostrophy]

Went to the doctor this afternoon to get three moles (or what I think are moles, anyway) removed that have been annoying me for varying lengths of time.  One on the left side of my face keeps getting scratched open, one on my right forearm has gotten bigger over the last few years, and one on the back of my head near the top of my neck I’ve had as long as I can remember.  That last one is huge and has been nicked by many barbers over the years, and I’m tired of it getting in the way.

Doctor didn’t think any of them were cancerous or precancerous, but all three will be going to pathology just in case, and as a matter of procedure.  He has a medical student shadowing him this week, one who has already done a surgery rotation, so he removed the ones on my face and arm, and let her take off the one on my scalp.  For all three lidocaine injections, I was complimented on how I didn’t even flinch.  I must be more stoic than I realized, at least outwardly, because in my mind I was grimacing and just hoping hoping hoping for the burn to stop.  I told the doc he’s not our dentist, but not bad (our dentist is so gentle with injections I can’t even feel the initial pinch of the needle).

The doctor was concerned about making a minimal scar at the site on my face, probably more so than I was, and I think was a lot more liberal with the lidocaine there, as it has been over three hours and part of my cheek is still a bit numb.  He spent a long time with the sutures as well.  The one on my arm went quickly, and I had to lie back in the procedure chair, staring at the ceiling.  Should have asked for a mirror so I could see what was going on.

For the one on my scalp, the doctor, student, and the nurse were all very concerned about how much of my hair they wanted to cut away to get to it.  I told them to cut what they needed – my hair will grow back in no time.  I had to lie in a rather uncomfortable position on my side and they spent more than five minutes trying to tape a drape around the area before giving up and cutting away a bit more hair.  The student wasn’t quite as skilled with the lidocaine injection, but was fine and med students have to practice sometime.  Whenever I’ve been to see any of my doctors over the years and they’ve had a shadowing student, I’ve always been more than happy to have them present and even help out directly.  How else will they learn?  Her removal of the mole seemed fine, though it bled like a river.  Then when she started putting in sutures, I felt her put through the first two very painfully.  She apologized, though I told her I’ve felt worse, and as long as this didn’t get worse, I was fine.  Then she put in a third suture which I didn’t feel at all, so maybe it wasn’t how much lidocaine she used, but where she put it?  *shrug*  When I sat up after the last one, they all realized it bled more than any of them noticed (it ran down my neck sideways and into my hair, apparently.  The nurse spent a while cleaning me up.  I had worn a black t-shirt anyway, just in case.

I can take out the outer stitches around the middle of next week (or rather have Toni help me).  The site on the back of my head does hurt rather more than I expected, but it’s tolerable.  Cheek is still a bit numb, and my arm is fine.

Originally published at Abnormality Locality. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Aw, that didn't even make the needle twitch on my Squick-o-Meter. :)

I'm glad it wasn't much of an ordeal, I had a similar experience with some skin tags a few years ago. No stitches though, just cauterization with a battery powered Cauterize-o-Matic.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

*nod* Me, either, but I know how much people's squick can vary. :-) I should have asked for a mirror to see what they were doing.

Cauterization seems so much more efficient - I wonder why it still isn't more widely used. Maybe mine were cut too deep? *shrug*

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Depth and diameter, I would guess. A skin tag root is much smaller diameter than any mole I've ever seen.

[gremlin44.livejournal.com]

Hey, we can take them out here over Thanksgiving! I got a nifty planters wart freezing kit from CVS that I used on Kevin's feet today, so I'm all in medical mood.