Chris has her skin cancer surgery yesterday. She has a spot on her face that they have burned off several times and it keeps coming back. This guy described this type of cancer as “oil on water.” Instead of sinking deep roots, it spreads out.
Because of that tendency, the doc marks the offending territory with a permanent marker (so, yes, Chris had a little round circle tattoo on her cheek). Then he slices off a section of the skin and sends it to lab. Meanwhile we sit and wait, usually up to 45 minutes.
Oh! I forgot. Right after he finished, he handed her over to the nurse (Amazing lady. She had all the pre-surgical instructions memorized). She grabbed the numbing shots, which … hurt.
When the doc made his incision, there was some residual blood (thank you, blood thinners). So the nurse was suddenly called in to work her magic with cauterization. That provided another jolt of pain, but it only lasted a second or two.
While she was finishing up, the doc took the skin sample to the lab. Back to waiting for us. 45 minutes to an hour was the estimate. And our designated worry assignment? If they didn’t get it all, they would go back in and cut some more, continuing until it was gone. And all that waiting before they even did the closing and stitches. Yay.
Well … after an hour the news arrived. All was clear. They moved on to phase two: carving the circular patch of missing skin into a triangle, and pulling the skin together, and somehow hiding it in her face’s natural laugh lines. Yep. That’s what he said. My first thought? Wonder if that’s what really happened to The Joker - a face stitching job gone bad (or would it be “gone good”? How about “gone smiley”?). I told Chris she now has to keep a perpetual smile on her face to hide any residual scarring. So if she smiles a creepy smile at you … she’s not really possessed.
1 Corinthians 13:6 says, Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
Father, thank you that Chris’ surgery went well. Help her get some rest. Amen.
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