off the hip

Two down, one to go, times two, this busy week.

On the fun side: story time. It's going well, even though my throat hurts by the time it's over. Everyone seems to be having a good time, and several people have made a point of saying how happy they are that I'm doing it, or what a good job I'm doing. I even scored a few hugs from little ones yesterday, as well as a bevy of 'Thank you, Miss Joan's. Such little ones are (for the most part) really fun to be around.

On the less-fun side, doctor appointments. Monday was the ENT. He was relieved with the biopsy results and not concerned about the changes revealed in the ultrasound since I am going to Houston for follow-up in August. He did a thorough examination and declares that there is nothing structural going on in my neck that he could find that would give me that lump-in-my-throat feeling. Both that feeling and the feeling of tightness I get across the front of my neck (from time to time I feel like I'm being garrotted) are probably a result of the surgery. On the sinus infection side, he suspects allergies rather than infection, and gave me a nasal spray to try. Of course I haven't started it yet, because I am an idiot.

Yesterday I saw the dermatologist about the "spot on the spot." I've had a large-ish spot on my left hip since I was pregnant with DS1. (Pregnancy does all sorts of weird things.) While Dr T assured me it was a benign keratosis, I've still kept an eye on it for the simple reason that it's so big. And that's why I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it had developed a little black spot in the middle, which rang alarm bells. In the world of skin cancer, any change in a spot is bad.

Dr T took a look at it and hypothesized that it looked like a scab, but a scab that small wouldn't likely last 2 weeks, would it? And why would there be a scab there? I can't recall knocking it or scratching it, although I suppose I could have without remembering it. But this was a tiny dot pretty much right in the center, so frankly I am skeptical of the scab theory. I mentioned to Dr T that I checked my mole-mapping photo and the lesion had definitely changed. He was intrigued, and had never loaded up the software before, so we took it for a spin. After he saw the lesion in the photo, he decided to do a shave biopsy.

Amazingly enough, he did it more or less on the spot, saving me the time and trouble of having to make another appointment and come back again. Shave biopsies are quicker and easier than punch biopsies, since they just slice the whatever off at the level of the skin, and there are no stitches involved.

So now I've a bandage on my hip and I'm banned from swimming until it heals... and this weekend is Memorial Day! Bad timing. But I'd rather know what's going on sooner rather than later, so I'm not complaining.

Today: the dentist. My mouth is a mess. The sinus thing has lead to a lot of overnight mouth-breathing, and my teeth just do not feel good. I think I'll take some prophylactic painkillers before I go in. Here's hoping that nothing serious is going on. It would be just my luck to need a root canal or something at this point. (I'm not being defeatist. I've had a problem with my lower front teeth on and off for years, and we've been keeping an eye on one problematic area for a while, waiting for it to go off. Now may be the time. Whee!)

Later: My teeth are fine, even though the cleaning was excruciating. *whew*