Great...another cancer to contend with.

Good morning, Ladies!

I had my Mohs surgery yesterday morning. It was a pretty easy business, except for the 1 1/2 hour drive to get there…which is normal for around here if you “live in Houston,” but don’t actually live there, but 70+ miles north!

Thankfully, it was what they referred to as “one and done.” They removed skin about the diameter of a dime & 4-5mm thick. That was enough to take care of it. I guess he put in about a dozen stitches that have to be removed in 2 weeks. (I can go to a much closer location for that to be done.) They said I’m supposed to do this & that…antibiotic and antibiotic ointment…and replace bandages twice a day for those two weeks. It hurts and looks quite awful, but it’s over!

More fun today. My regular 3-month checkup at GO’s office. No sane woman would schedule herself for 8 pelvic exams in 2 years, but “it is what it is!” Very grateful that’s all it is! 😁 Bloodwork came back great yesterday, so my body seems to handling the Zejula OK, including new CA125 = 19! I’m very happy about that!

I keep reminding myself that not everyone has the privilege of living long enough to have these problems! I’m a lucky girl. 😎

Thanks for all of your care and support! Hope everyone can have a great Wednesday!

Love to All,

A

Hi A,

I'm happy to hear that your Mohs surgery went so well. Good luck with the healing process! Your experience sounds pretty similar to mine, although thankfully I only got 5 stitches, not a dozen! I think if I had to listen to the sound of that suture pulling through my scalp twelve times, I would have lost my mind! I made a mental note that the next time I get a skin cancer, I will not get one so close to my ear! Hopefully you're experiencing minimal if any pain today. I only had one night that I couldn't lay on my right side due to the soreness of the incision. I had to continue to use the mupirocin antibiotic cream for a week after my stitches were removed, so my last day was yesterday, three weeks post-surgery.

After all those great blood test results, I hope you sailed through your visit with your GO yesterday!

All the best,

M

Thank you to all for your well wishes!

Appointment at GO’s went fine, thank goodness!

Maybe it was a little much to have the Mohs one day and then GO the next…. scheduling really couldn’t have been altered….but it was tough emotionally. I’ve about decided I must have a bit of PTSD as it relates to going into that GO’s office for checkups. I’m anxious and unhappy for about a week before the appointment. I always have tears in my eyes when we pull out of the driveway and then am very anxious while I’m there….I smile a lot and am very friendly, but I’m marginally uncooperative and somewhat sarcastic! No one’s ever accused me of being a great patient! 😉 It has nothing to do with fear, or fear of a bad outcome, it’s just about being there. The staff is wonderful to me, so it’s not that, either. I think it was the scene of so much emotional and physical trauma (all my chemo infusions where right there in his treatment room), and it brings back horrible memories.

When I picked up prescriptions on the way home, I made a couple of deadpan remarks about this & that…kind of a specialty of mine!…and then apologized saying, “I’m sorry. I’m humorless today.” The girl didn’t skip a beat, “Oh, you have a sense of humor. It’s just very dry!” 😆

And then I’m completely better the next day. It’s over and I’m good! I’ve always appreciated the ability of the human mind to tuck bad memories far, far, away where they’re less accessible. These visits every 3 mths are not facilitating that process! Does this happen to any of you ladies? This will get better, right?

❤️❤️❤️, A

Thank you, Forherself! That is very encouraging that I can have hope that those feelings will dissipate! Thank you for validating my distress!

Funny how different things are triggers for us. This last thing I always did before we walked out the door for a chemo infusion was apply lidocaine to my port and then the whole plastic wrap to cover routine. The other morning (have to get port flushed, too) I remembered I needed to do that and then felt a shuddering. Told myself, “Nope. Not doin’ it. She can spray that freezer stuff. It’ll hurt, but I don’t care.” The idea of that physical pain was a better alternative to the emotional pain of the process! Pitiful!

And I kind of feel foolish having those feelings about those appointments…and then not behaving very well while I’m there! (impatient…humorless…old lady ornery!)…yet I know that avoidance response to bad situations is deeply ingrained in our human psyche! And it’s kind of funny how it feels that way…like it’s coming from somewhere deep down and is less easily controlled than other emotions!

Hope you all have a great Sunday! Around here the sweltering heat of summer is upon us already!

❤️, A

I wasn't told about the lidocaine cream either, but the I seem to remember the oncology center's nurse prepping the port area before inserting the needle. I don't think the nurses at the hospital took any extra steps when getting me setup there. The needle always did sting a bit going in, but I actually find it far more painful when they connect an IV through the veins in my hand for other infusions or procedures.

Funny story: My sisters took me to get my port and they left the waiting area, assuming that it would take a while. But the whole process was over very quickly and I was awake the whole time (although in no pain or anxiety - drugs work!). The nurse then had to page my sisters to get them back to take me home. She commented that if she had known I was going to have that doctor she would have told them to stay in the waiting area. Apparently he has a reputation of being very speedy.

I don't know how my placement compares to others, but after a while I stopped noticing it. It's been in over five years and still works, although it never got used after chemo. The GO mentioned for the first time about having it removed at my last appointment. Guess he thinks it's finally "safe" to be taken out. But I haven't done anything about having it removed yet.

I was told to only let the oncology nurses access the PowerPort, which is why it was never used again after chemo. But honestly, no one told me I was supposed to be getting it flushed when I finished treatment. And once it was inserted, I never looked at the patient information again, which may have talked about this. I suppose the medical oncologist thought the GO would do it and the GO might have thought medical oncology was taking care of it. So it wasn't until I started reading this board that I learned that others were having their ports flushed regularly.

But by then it had been so long since it had been used, I figured it was probably blocked up and I would just have to get it replaced if I ever needed it again. So frankly I just ignored the whole issue until the GO asked me at my last exam if I wanted to have it removed. The nurse checked it then and found it was still working, despite not having been flushed for years. Maybe I'll get it taken out once I officially hit the five-year mark in September, but it's never bothered me and as long as it still works, I'm not really motivated to do anything about it. But if I had been getting it flushed on a regular basis I'm sure I would have had it taken out years ago, just to stop that extra step. 

Well, I don't advise skipping what's recommended medically. I'm sure my situation arose because the gynecological oncologist was new to the practice (although not new as a GO). When I met with him initially, I got the sense that he would oversee treatment, much like most women's GO's here have done. But then I learned that I would get chemo from the separate medical oncology group.

So when I shifted back to the GO for ongoing care (except for radiation) after six months of chemo, some instructions were probably lost in the transition. And then I didn't see the GO again for another 4-5 months since radiation was in that time period. By the time I was on a regular 3-month checkup cycle, the flushing issue didn't come up and I didn't know to ask about it.

I will say that my mother kept her port after her last (finally successful) chemo treatments and I don't remember her seeing the doctor for any flushing during the following years until she died. And the nurse who did check me recently told me that some women have kept their ports in for many years. But if keeping it meant that I would have to get it flushed every 2-3 months, I would have had it yanked out years ago.