My "Surgery"

Wednesday I had an apt. with the Dermatologist P.A. to have a cyst removed.  At my apt. the actual Dr. stopped in to give the "go ahead".  He looked at the bump on my arm and asked some questions while feeling it.  Then he said he was pretty sure it was not a cyst, but was a tumor.  The P.A. was the one who labeled it a cyst at a previous appointment with her.  He told the P.A. to cut a larger incision and what angle, and left the room.  I was bummed to have a bigger cut and kind of left not knowing what to think about the tumor.  It just didn't occur to me to be worried about it.  I came with the mind set that I was taking care of something annoying, not something harmful.  I've had a cyst removed on my scalp before and I thought this was the same thing. 

I layed on my side on the table whie the P.A. numbed me up.  I couldn't see or feel anything but it seemed by the small motions of pressure like she was taking 30 minutes just to make an incision.  I ran over every possible polite way to ask "What's taking so long?", chose one, and asked.  She went on to say that a tumor is different than a cyst, in that you do not simply cut and push/clean it out, it is part of you. And she had to cut tiny cuts over and over to cut all the way around it, scraping up my muscle pretty good (sorry that all sounds gross).  Then I was worried my muscle would be hurt and not heal right.  She assured me my muscle was in tact, but would just be very sore.  She put internal dissolvable stitches in and then removable stitches on the surface.  I thought I would walk out with a bandaid but left with a 3x3 inch gauze bandage instead! 

Here is the wound 5 days later.

In addition to cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide, I've been putting Lavendar Oil and Wheat Germ Oil with Polysporin on it.  It seems to be healing tremendously fast, which I'm grateful for.  It's still sore and painful to move my arm very much for fear of stretching the wound. 

The tumor was almost an inch in diameter.  It appeared much smaller under the skin.  I was really surprised- they asked if I wanted to see it and I said yes.  Maybe I'm wierd.  By the look, they're pretty sure it's benign.  But they always test them just to be sure and I'll hear back on that within two weeks.  Again, that sounds scary, but I still feel like it's nothing of concern. 

Minutes after coming home from the surgery (I feel silly calling it that, but that's what it was), I got a call from my sister-in-law, our realtor, saying we got our first call on our house!  Yay!  They asked if they could see it Thursday or Friday.  Our Friday was busy so I said Thursday would be great.  My arm was all numbed up still and I felt great!  But I soon realized that was not the smartest thing I could have committed to.  We had a fun little family Birthday Party for Todd's cousin's daughter that evening.  So I did all of the cleaning/organizing the next day up until the appointment.  I was dragging my feet, just exhausted.  The pain killer made me drowsy so I stopped taking it.  But just the healing process made me tremendously tired.  I got it done with mostly one arm and the help of a couple of friends watching my kids and helping with yard cleanup.  The people loved the house.  But they have a house to sell before they can do anything.  So we won't bank on anything there.  But a great experience to have under our belts.  I'm happy to not have to say we haven't had a single call on our house anymore. 

I am still exhausted, 5 days into this healing process.  I left church early today because Lainey was too much to keep up with just during Sacrament Mtg.  All I could think about was my bed.  I hope my energy returns soon.  Until then, I'm gratefull for a wonderful husband who takes care of me and the family when I'm not feeling that great.