Getting better

It seems my lip is getting better every day. It still has sensitivity to it, but it's not as ugly as it was a couple of weeks ago! The stitches on my chest are a little annoying, even if they are a pretty dark blue! But, I can tell that's healing pretty well too. I think I'll start swimming again - and working out the upper body - next week.... 2 weeks should be long enough! :)

Craig on the other hand - isn't healing as quickly. But, I do see improvement every day - sometimes he even carries on a conversation in the morning.... Pastor prayed for healing last week - I'm going to believe that whatever it is Craig has - God will take care of it! He went and had an x ray on his lungs yesterday - he said there were spots - so my guess is it's Valley Fever - guess we'll know for sure next week.

Some good some bad

I had the spot on my chest removed yesterday. It was a little....stressful! I guess redheads take longer to numb - 5 vials of lidocaine - and I STILL felt some of the cutting... NOT good! About 3/4 of the way through, it hurt like heck... He thought it was just pulling, but it wasn't, I could actually feel the skin being cut away - other than that... :) It wasn't that bad! I have a before and after picture.... There are 17 stitches this time - over an inch long...it's incredibly tender - and tight... I'm praying they got it all..I really don't want them to go back and take more!

The first pictures is the spot that they took - he circled it with purple pen to show how much he needed to take around it - he showed us what looked like the roots...hoping he got it all! the second is the stitches - today.

Back to the Doctor today!

I had my follow up - remove the final stitch appointment today. The lip is healing really nicely...so he decided to do 2 more biopsies... one on my nose - and one on my chest. The medicine HURTS like heck! But Craig was there to keep me company! We scheduled surgery for the 17th (Fri) of April at 3:55 for the basel cell on my chest. They have to take a pretty big piece of skin - and said I need to limit my activity for 2 weeks... HUH? I think I will still be able to ride - and maybe to the eliptical.... I don't want to quit training!

OK - off to the office for a bit - then the gym - then maybe see my kidlets at the ranch. I love spring break!

Stitches removed

I had my check up on Monday - the doctor said my lip is healing well, and then asked if I could not talk for a few days. I laughed. How can *I* NOT talk? :) Between work and having to do a presentation at class on Monday night - not talking wasn't really an option. So, he took 11 of the 13 stitches out. The final two were left to keep the cut closed. It's not looking too bad - and I may upload a picture later (of today) I do have one from yesterday - it's really healing quite nicely. :) I go back on Monday to take out the last 2 stitches. Then I'll schedule my next appointment to begin to remove the other spots. The doctor wants to go slowly, to not cause so much trauma. My lip is still a little crooked... but all in all - I'm good with it!

Friday's pic

This was Friday - on my way to work! Getting much better! Although, I have to admit, I'm sick of wearing a bandage - but I'm not too keen on the idea of a scar either! Friday was a crazy day! Got to work, got busy, and then the tech guys came in to set up my new computer! WOOHOO..... You should see the screen!

Had a work experience luncheon at 1:00, and had to be on the road at 2:30 to make it to Sunnyside High School by 3:30 for a CV CUE Administrators Symposium. It was WELL worth my time! They went over cyber bullying - acceptable use policies (does VCIS have one? ) And then copyright laws.... I got some great resources that I'm going to put on my resource page - if students are going to blog - myspace - and face book- why NOT use it as teachable moments?? I need to look through my notes again, but there is even a site where things are FREE to use - so no more plagerizing! (Guess we all could use a refresher course on plagerism!) CV CUE (Central Valley Computer Using Educators) also provided a very nice dinner. I met some great ladies from Fresno County Office of Ed - and got more resourses! One of the ladies had even recently had Moh's surgery - on her nose, and you really could not tell! That was encouraging!
After dinner, we heard from Antwon Lincholn, the Technology Director at Chula Vista School District. What an incredible speaker he was. We all recieved a copy of his book - Confessions of a Technology Leader. As I was browsing through it, I just happed to land on a chapter that completely resonated with me! About being a technology janitor verses leader.. (although 360 leadership does say that even janitors are leaders if they chose to be - everyone within an organization can lead if they so choose!) Anyway, for anyone interested, there is a web site, I haven't checked it out yet - but it's www.TLConfessions.com

Day 4 - Thursday 3/26/09

Not a lot to report today... I wake up a little swollen in the morning, but it seems to go away... no pain - I miss working out though! Might ride my bike this afternoon - if we don't go get a car :) I'm even able to kind of sorta smile!

Day 3

Today is day 3. You know when you work out - and the next day your sore, but the day after that, you are REALLY sore?? Well I'm not sore, but I feel like I'm definitely more swollen than I was yesterday. Today I'm feeling kind of - melancholy... I think I'm just tired. I have class tonight, after a busy day of work - maybe we'll go to bed early again! I am thankful though - God has given me an opportunity to open doors and talk honestly about skin cancer - and about HIM -
I also have an incredible husband - who is so kind. Yep - God is good!

After my shower - and ice pack this morning.


Doesn't look too bad at a distance, still can't smile - There is also a bit of bruising under the band-aid...

Day 2 PM

Today was pretty good, for the most part! I got a lot of "WHAT happened to your lip??" questions.... funny how when I said that Craig backhanded me, every one responded with, "It's about time!" What's up with that? :) I stayed busy most of the day, and then about 12:30 or so, had had enough. I think it was the emotional let down. I still know that it's not bad - but I think at the same time it's a bit traumatic- to have your face cut on.... (Even if your husband thinks your lopsided smile is cute!) I'm finding more and more people though, that NEED to get to the doctor to have something checked. I hope that they all take it seriously and DO IT!

I took a picture of the red mark on my chest - because THIS is what basel cell looks like on me... Not anything like the pictures on Web MD - which are really disgusting... The only reason this even has anything that appears to be raised is they did a biopsy and put 2 stitches in it last week. Guess that's about it for now - I was going to upload a picture of me now... but I'm a mess.... My brother responded to my blog earlier..and made me cry... :) He's such a bully! And I love him very much!

Day 2

I slept great last night! Tylenol PM is a miracle drug! After posting last night, we headed off to bed. The new pillow's we bought also worked wonders! I slept really well, after finally falling asleep. Snoozed for about 30 minutes this morning, before finally getting up. First things first - had to take the bandage off to see how hideous I looked.... (Yep, even before making coffee) The stitches are vertical, not quite where I thought they'd be, but it's supposed to help reconstruct that little bridge/bump thing that runs between your nose and lip. My lip is still pretty swollen, kind of like collagen gone bad, but it's not as bad as it was yesterday. After inspecting my face....I made my coffee, and ran a bath. Cuddled up with my warm husband and a cold ice pack while the bath was running... Actually, not a bad way to start the morning!

Got my bath - without hurting myself... (yep, I'm impressed too!) After drying off, Nurse Lackey put some medicine on my lip - a mixture of biafine (a topical emulsion, whatever that is!) and neosporin, and then we diligently picked through the box for just the right bandaid!

Here I am at work - I can't really smile yet, but I am feeling oh so much better!