We're All Doing Fine

I guess my update after my surgery was a little dramatic because I've had a lot of worried people checking in on me. The fourth day after surgery I'm doing well. 

The stitches don't really hurt at all, they just tickle/itch a bit. 

Fourth day after surgery and there's a little bit of bruising on the ends of the stitches. I think this is the worst it will look and it gets better from here.

I think the bruise on my hand from the IV looks worse than the bruising on my face.

The twins have seen the scar and they aren't overly concerned, Connor said he just didn't want anyone to stare at me. We have told them to prevent this we all need to wear sunscreen. Before we went out to swim today Connor reminded us he needed sunscreen on his face.


I have a follow up with the plastic surgeon next week. Everything is going well.

Water Balloons

Carl went to anew store today, Five Below and as the name implies, everything in the store is $5 or less. Connor picked a water gun and Carl got water balloons so everyone was ready to put on their swimsuits when we got home.

Filling balloons with water

I told Carl about "Bunch O Balloons" that fills and seals a ton of balloons at the same time. This may be a new purchase soon.

Gator full of water balloons

Tons of ways to enjoy the pool!

Skin Cancer Surgery

Tuesday was the day of the surgery. There were two steps to the day. First to remove the cancer and then the plastic surgeon to repair the spot.

The first procedure is called Mohs surgery where they remove a top layer of skin and examine it to determine if they got all the cancer. It took two rounds of removal to get the cancer. This surgery was definitely the harder of the two. They numb the area, but keep you awake as they remove the layer of skin. Then you go back to the waiting room until they know if they need to remove more. Below is a picture after that procedure. Apparently the spot looked pretty bad so Carl didn't feel comfortable taking a picture of it so you get this lovely, bandaged-face mug shot.

We were done with the first part at 10:30am and had an appointment with the plastic surgeon at 2pm. Most of the stress of the day comes from the waiting and anticipation. The second procedure itself went really quickly. While waiting I started to question why I was even doing this. A lot of people have commented "at least you caught it early." But I was questioning why that was a good thing, maybe I'd be better off just being blissfully ignorant and I could get it taken care of years later. Thinking probably just driven by the stress of anticipation. 

Below is a shot of the stitches after plastic surgery. It's a bit bigger than I expected and I'm not sure how this will fade away. I have a follow up with the surgeon's office next week and I think they remove a few of the stitches then.

I guess overall it's not that bad, or more it is what it is. In the big scheme of life it's not that big of a deal. I think the healing part is the easy part, no more stress of worrying about surgeries.

Health News

On Friday, June 12th I had an appointment with a Dermatologist. She took two samples, one from my chest and one from my face. It was a little upsetting because she said she was taking samples because they may be cancer and that it would leave a scar. Carl claims I was more upset over the scar news, which in a way I can't deny. It's like, your going along having a regular ol Friday when a doctor pulls out a knife and says, "it will leave a scar." I ask, "forever?" And she replies, "That's what scar means"

So, I'm fair, I didn't always use sunscreen, and when I was a teenager I used a tanning booth, none boding well for a clear diagnosis. 

When the the biopsies came back, the place on my chest was a benign sunspot. However, the spot on my check turned out to be skin cancer: Squamous Cell Carcinoma. It's fairly common and now I'm scheduled for Mohs surgery where they take a layer at a time and check it until they get all the cancer.

The doctor told me that the stitches will end up being twice as large as the area she has to remove. Since it's on my face I've opted to have a plastic surgeon close afterwards. My surgery is this Tuesday. We'll keep you posted.

So in summary:

Boo skin cancer

Boo surgery

Boo scars

Yeah sunscreen

Fourth of July 2015

We didn't do much this year for the Fourth of July, but we've been so busy lately it was nice to take it easy. We spent most of the weekend enjoying the pool.

Piper strategically situated herself in front of the fan

After a good swim everyone sleeps well.

A Visit To Mommy's Office

Yesterday the twins came to my office with me. Not only were they excited, I was pretty excited myself. It was really fun for them to meet the all the people I work with and see where I am each day.

We came in so the twins could be a part of one of the shots for the Wisteria holiday catalog. Not sure if they'll actually make it in the catalog, but they definitely had a good time. I think Chloe may have enjoyed it just a bit more than Connor. She loved getting to dress up in the gold outfit and was a ham for the camera.

The Talent

On the holiday set

They had to wait awhile before the set was ready and they were really patient. They stayed in my office and played on their Kindles while I was in a budget meeting. I think it was fun for them to do something different.

I told them I'd take them out to the warehouse which elicited an excited response. First because Connor thought it was a Haunted House and along the same lines Chloe thought there were were-wolfs in the warehouse. I set them straight and they were thrilled when they got to take a tour of the warehouse on a golf cart. So awesome!

Ready for our warehouse tour

They loved being at the office and all of my coworkers were so sweet to them it was a fun day for all of us. Last night I asked 
Connor what his favorite part of the day was and he whispered to me "Spending the whole day with you." Too sweet!