Another Kind of Stitches...

I'll get back to my Stitches Midwest shopping but I wanted to send out a short health reminder.

Have you looked at your moles lately?

Last week, this was the location of a mole on my upper back. It was a fairly large raised dark mole that had been there a long time. Questionable and precancerous moles are definitely a thing in my medical family history so when my massage therapist commented that it had changed, it was time for it to go.

After consulting with a dermatologist, I had a couple of options: shaving it off at skin level or having it excised.  As you can see, I went for the latter, mostly because shaving would leave the potential that it might grow back. I got a referral to a dermatologic surgeon, made an appointment, and in about 45 minutes (most of which was checking in and waiting on the numbing agent to take hold) I had no more mole and 5 stitches.

The Philosopher has been changing the bandage for me, it would be impossible to do it myself.  This was taken at the 24 hour point, since then I'm told the redness and swelling has gone down a little. It was fairly painful for the first couple of days, now it's just super itchy.

I'm still waiting to hear whether it was benign or precancerous but either way, that's done and I will just have a small scar to show for my trouble.

But if you've not taken inventory of your moles recently, please do take a minute before your next shower and have a look at your body.

Here's some good information from the National Cancer Institute and the National Library of Medicine on what to look for, what is normal, what to be concerned about, etc.

We now return you to your regular woolhedgehog...