Stabbed, Sliced and Shot with Lasers
Jul. 13th, 2011 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sharplittleteethA. has been telling me for ages to get my various moles and blemishes checked.
I finally made a doctor's appointment yesterday. He said most of them were benign (mostly seborrheic keratoses), but there was one on my right arm that look suspicious. He wrote me a referral for a dermatologist, and the dermatologist booked me in for an appointment for today.
My GP, being thorough, also suggested I get some blood tests for cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
So I took today off work. Fasted. And had my blood samples taken this morning. That was the stabbing.
This afternoon, A. and I caught the train to Camberwell. She went off to potter through the shops while I saw the specialist. He checked all my various blemishes, agreed that the one on my arm looked suspicious, and said he'd cut it out so it could be biopsied to see if it was a melanoma. They did the removal right then, in the a theatre at the back of the clinic.
It was... odd.
The doctor had a nurse and a trainee nurse assisting, and they chatted away about the procedure to each other as if I wasn't there. It was just a local anaesthetic in my arm, but it was so effective I was still waiting for him to cut the mole out when he started stitching the wound. I didn't feel a thing.
I kept hearing this electronic beep. I lifted my head to see what it was, and I saw a wisp of smoke rising up from my arm. The doctor was using a laser to cauterise the blood vessels. I was being shot by lasers. My inner nine year old was delighted.
Afterwards, though, I was weirdly shaken. Some of it probably was adrenaline - I was nervous about the operation, even if it was incredibly minor. I suspect some of it was the anaesthetic, too. A. and I met up, had a coffee, and poked around a bookstore. But when we were in Woolworths getting groceries, I suddenly felt dizzy and exhausted. I came home and slept. I still feel a bit groggy.
I'll get the results on Friday. Neither the dermatologist nor myself are especially concerned.
So. That was my day. Stabbed, sliced, and shot with lasers. I feel like I'm living in a sci-fi novel. A very, very dull sci-fi novel. :)
I finally made a doctor's appointment yesterday. He said most of them were benign (mostly seborrheic keratoses), but there was one on my right arm that look suspicious. He wrote me a referral for a dermatologist, and the dermatologist booked me in for an appointment for today.
My GP, being thorough, also suggested I get some blood tests for cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
So I took today off work. Fasted. And had my blood samples taken this morning. That was the stabbing.
This afternoon, A. and I caught the train to Camberwell. She went off to potter through the shops while I saw the specialist. He checked all my various blemishes, agreed that the one on my arm looked suspicious, and said he'd cut it out so it could be biopsied to see if it was a melanoma. They did the removal right then, in the a theatre at the back of the clinic.
It was... odd.
The doctor had a nurse and a trainee nurse assisting, and they chatted away about the procedure to each other as if I wasn't there. It was just a local anaesthetic in my arm, but it was so effective I was still waiting for him to cut the mole out when he started stitching the wound. I didn't feel a thing.
I kept hearing this electronic beep. I lifted my head to see what it was, and I saw a wisp of smoke rising up from my arm. The doctor was using a laser to cauterise the blood vessels. I was being shot by lasers. My inner nine year old was delighted.
Afterwards, though, I was weirdly shaken. Some of it probably was adrenaline - I was nervous about the operation, even if it was incredibly minor. I suspect some of it was the anaesthetic, too. A. and I met up, had a coffee, and poked around a bookstore. But when we were in Woolworths getting groceries, I suddenly felt dizzy and exhausted. I came home and slept. I still feel a bit groggy.
I'll get the results on Friday. Neither the dermatologist nor myself are especially concerned.
So. That was my day. Stabbed, sliced, and shot with lasers. I feel like I'm living in a sci-fi novel. A very, very dull sci-fi novel. :)
