Yesterday, I had the non-cancerous but still not awesome mole removed from my leg. It was on the back of my knee, so the good news was that there was zero chance of me watching the surgery. The bad news is that it’s in a crappy location of skin that pulls so it kind of hurts today.
But it wasn’t that bad. Honestly, the worst part is that it hurts today.
So for those of you facing the same thing, or avoiding going to the dermatologist for a skin check because you’re worried about those kinds of things, here’s how it went.
I got to the office and opted to change into shorts rather than lay there in a paper gown and then have to put pants on over a wound. They called me smart. I laid on my stomach on the table and the doctor numbed me up. I honestly didn’t really feel any of this, possibly because of the location, or possibly because my experience being numbed up has always been for dental work, where it feels like they’re sticking long needles all the way into my brain. Either way, no big deal.
The doc left and I played on my phone for a bit, then she came back and started work. What did she do? No idea. I felt some pressure and some wiping, and at one point, she asked me if I was touching any metal on the table, which I thought was weird, but I’m guessing she was cauterizing something and didn’t want to risk electrocuting me. (Note, I was wearing metal, and I guess the point was no grounded metal. No clue.) I was nervous so we all kept chatting through the procedure (about triathlons mostly, and I told her that one of the volunteer jobs at an Ironman is to slather sunscreen on strangers, which, being a dermatologist, she appreciated).
I could tell when the stitches started because of the difference in the pulling, but again, I couldn’t really feel it at the site, just the movement of the skin around it. And she was done.
I have to go back next Friday to have the stitches removed. I can’t workout til after that, and I can’t go to the pool til the stitches are out either. But the lack of working out is due to the location, not the procedure itself. If it were my arm, the situation would be different. I have to keep it dry for about 24 hours, then I can shower like normal, but no baths. I have to keep it covered and moist with Vaseline or something along those lines. I also have three days of antibiotics to take, just in case.
And that’s it. Like I said, it hurts today, but only when it moves. That makes sense. Pulling on a wound is never pleasant. All in all, not bad. I haven’t looked at it, and will probably have to at some point, unfortunately. The idea of stitches squicks me out completely, but not as much as cancer. So the procedure? Worth it.