Day 2 after Surgery....

January 25th, my day started at 8 am with Dr. Burrow performing the MOHs part of the surgery. Although, I have been through this part of the procedure last year, I was still nervous. My wonderful husband was there with me to keep my mind off from the procedure, as I would be awake for the first part. Here is a pic of my silly husband while we were waiting for the results of the first cut.




After 2 cuts and finally getting clean margins, Dr. Burrow's part was finished. Luckily, Dr. Burrow did not have to cut much of my hair. Below is a pic of some of my hair that was cut.



This is what I looked like after Dr. Burrow finished with his part. They wrapped me up and sent me to Dr. Cole's for him to repair my appearance from the MOHs procedure.




Still think you should go to the tanning bed? I wouldn't.

Dr. Cole was my plastic surgeon that close the area that was removed during the MOHs process. I checked into the out patient surgery unit and was taken back. Opting not to do the skin graph because it would leave a two tone look, Dr. Cole did a good job piecing me back together. The majority of my stitches and scaring will be in my hair line so it will not be too visible once I heal.



I didn't sleep much the first night. I had to keep my head elevated and couldn't sleep on my right side. Here is a pic of how I looked the less than 24 hours after my surgery.



I met with Dr. Cole the day after to make sure everything look normal and that none of the tissue was dying. While a friend and I were waiting to see him another patient told me that I reminded her of Meagan Fox and commented on how pretty I was. I told her thank you but was really thinking....have you not seen me! My whole side of my face is in stitches, swollen and I have no makeup on. But it did make me feel better about being in public looking the way I do until I heal.

Here are pics of the 2nd morning after my surgery. I have minimal swelling so far.

Surgery Again....

Over the past 5 years, I have seen several doctors about a basal cell carcinoma spot that is on my right temple. I have underwent many procedures to try and have the spot removed. However, each biopsy results are the same.....It's still there and has spread.

Basal cell carcinoma has a 40% re-occurrence rate...I've always been in that 40%.

So in the spring of 2011, I underwent MOHs surgery. This is where they cut the section of skin off and look at it under the microscope. If cancer cells are visible, the doctor will remove the skin until they get a clean slide. My thought process going in was that since they would cut until they had a clean view under the microscope then this would be the last of it ( or at least in this same spot).

Wrong! I started getting the dull pain and tingling feeling in my right temple again this past fall. Upon undergoing another biopsy, I was told that I would have to have surgery again, the basal cell was still there and deeper.

Once again, I will undergo the MOHs but more aggressively this time. I will also have the assistance of a facial plastic surgeon this time around. I will meet with the plastic surgeon next week to discuss what his role will be once the MOHs surgeon removes the affected skin. I am scheduled for surgery the week after.