Carol Moncado

First off… look at me! I got a mention on Real Life Petticoat Ranch! That’s Mary Connealy’s blog :D.

Second… Nose news.

The last month qualifies as a saga, I think…

About a month ago, I had a routine trip to the dermatologist. I’ve had this spot on my nose that wouldn’t heal – though it finally had. Like a good girl, I told her about it anyway and she decided to do a biopsy.

It came back as a basal cell carcinoma.

Skin cancer.

I freaked out [silently since I was still on the phone with the nurse] but it turns out, it’s the least bad kind of cancer ever. In fact, we haven’t even used the ‘c’ word with the kids. My oldest daughter is literally the same age I was when my mom died of stomach cancer and the kids know this. We didn’t think they’d be able to truly differentiate between the two different kinds, so we told them it was an ‘infection’. That’s more or less true…

February 3, I went in for a Mohs procedure. Basically, they cut out the bad stuff, test it to make sure they got it all then cut out more bad stuff if needed and so on. By the time it was all said and done, I had a hole about the size of a nickel on the top of my nose.

In fact, it was so big [and my nose is apparently very taut – I guess that’s better than a flabby nose…], that the doctor decided he couldn’t close it up in the office using local anesthetic and sent me to a plastic surgeon.

On February 8, the plastic surgeon knocked me out [well, the anesthesiologist did…] and fixed it. By the time he was done, I had about 30 stitches in my nose and two black eyes.

I spent twelve days on hydrocodone…

I missed two days of work. This is another time I thank God for my job at OTC and only working two days/six hours a week. The day after my second surgery, I was giving a test and they proctored it for me. And I was able to cancel the next Tuesday without any fuss.

It still hurts. I have a constant ‘noseache’ [like a headache but emanating from my nose rather than my forehead], but it is sooooooo much better than it was and, once fully healed,   you won’t hardly be able to see the scar. You can already barely see it in a couple places.

But here it is:

I won’t post pics of the nickel sized hole or the grotestqueness it was the day after surgery. when it was all swollen and stitched up under that gauze. You can still see the remnants of one of the black eyes, though.

But good comes from pain, right?

I read a bunch of books – including Mary’s In Too Deep – because there was no way I could focus enough to write.

And I figured out a plot point for Finding Mr. Write. I wonder… if I give a character skin cancer on her nose, can I write all this off as research? 😉

Somehow, I doubt the IRS will go for that 😀