The C Word....again.

Just over two weeks ago we were in Crested Butte and I was rolling down a hill at the mountain base with my niece, Campbell... that fun turned into a fierce rash up and down my forearms, and so it was because of that issue that I found myself in a College Station dermatologist's office on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 7.

The rash was a rash. Treatable with some heavy duty prescription cream. End of story. However, while I was there, I asked him to check a spot on my nose about which I was concerned-- a spot that many of you know has been there a WHILE... like back when we still had Lebowski (whom we lost on March 21, 2014)...so yeah, a while.

The dr. looked at the spot.
Then he put on his fancy radar glasses and looked again.
His nurse asked me 3 questions (to which I am certain, I gave the WRONG answers) while he was looking.
1. As a habit, do you wear sunscreen when you are outside? (No.)
2. Do you wear a wide-brimmed hat when you are in the sun. (No.)
3. Have you used a tanning bed before? (Yes.)

(See, all three answers were the WRONG ones.)

Then the dr. (very definitely) told me I had a basal cell carcinoma.
He really was great. Very explanatory and very helpful.
Told me he needed to do a biopsy. And in fact, offered to it right then, but I was a bit too much in shock to let him start snipping pieces off my nose just yet.

He told me to go home, read about BCC, and then he handed me some literature about Moh's Surgery.  He explained that with his confidence about what the spot was, I needed to begin to prepare myself for the surgery that would be needed to remove it.

So I scheduled the biopsy for the end of the week and went home...stunned, but armed with lots of literature and several websites he wanted me to read.

Biopsy was July 9.
I went home with a crater/divot the size of a No. 2 pencil's eraser on my nose.
And I waited.

Tuesday, July 14-- Biopsy results in.
It's cancer.
But again, they feel like there is a 95% chance that the Moh's Surgery will get it all (and I will get a new nose out of the deal).

Surgical consult is Monday.
Surgery will be scheduled at that time.

Pretty sure our family has already exceeded the LIFETIME CANCER-QUOTA, but someone else must have a different idea. 

So here we go again.