Life is Good

10:00 Shauna pulls into the driveway. We get in: me in the front, Sue in back. 

11:00 We are in the waiting room on the 4th floor at the Mohs Surgery Clinic. We sip on the one cup of coffee that we brought in. It's Sue's coffee. I didn't want one because I don't want to be trudging to the bathroom all day. Nevertheless, I take a few sips.

This was taken a few minutes later in our room

11:25 Sue and I are both in the room where we were told that we might spend a long and indeterminate amount of time. In this case, a long time means hours, not days; it cold be a long day. The nurse is asking me many questions about my health. I answer "No" to so many questions that I feel very healthy.

11:35 The tall, lean surgeon enters the room and explains the procedure that we have already read about. She looks like a younger version of our tall, lean family doctor. Strangely enough, they are both called Gillian although this doctor's versions begins with a J. She instructs me to get on the table.

In the next few minutes, she will examine the spot on my right temple, freeze it, and excise a layer of my skin. She informs me that the procedure will be painless; the only thing that will hurt will be the needle to apply the freezing, which doesn't hurt much at all.

11:47 We are done with round 1. I am to apply pressure to the bandage for 10 minutes.

11:57 The sample is already on its way to the lab to see if they got it all. I get up to wait, possibly for 2 hours or longer to get the result.. If not, they will repeat the procedure as many times as necessary until the cancerous spot is completely gone.

After snacking on peanuts and a granola bar, I sniff around online; mostly I listen Elizabeth George's latest Lynley novel: Something to Hide.

Sue is double-tasking — reading and crocheting a square for her next Christmas quilt. It will be her 4th peppermint afghan, after completing a different one last winter.

2:25 Good news: they got it all on the first try. They will re-freeze the incision area and stitch it  up.

2:40 After stitching, she applies liquid nitrogen to two spots, one on my head, the other on my nose. The nose has been done once before and probably the other spot too, for I have had several spots frozen in the past decade or so. I don't feel the spray up top, but the one on the nose just about made my eyes water.

2:45 We're done and waiting for Shauna to come and pick us up. She had just settled at her boyfriend's house after completing a few runabout chores.

3:30 The three of us are at Swiss Chalet for a quarter chicken dinner, the first in about 3 years. In past times, we would drive into the city once or twice a year, but then Covid came along. I am feeling quite chuffed to have the procedure behind me and to be where I am with my wife and daughter.

Life is good.