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.
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