Sandy

This is the current radar from weather.com regarding Hurricane Sandy. Its been raining in DC since about 5pm yesterday, and the wind picked up this morning. I use the trees I can see across the way from my apartment building as a gauge for how windy it is out, and they have been swinging around pretty well for the past couple of hours, even more so in the past few minutes. And the best part? The eye of the storm hasn't even made landfall yet, its expected in the next 2 hours or so, so the worst is yet to come.

Metro is closed, meaning I had no way to get to work this morning. That wasn't a problem though, as non-emergency personnel were granted admin leave today. I'm wondering what the case will be for tomorrow as it is supposed to get worse for us overnight. Apparently 50 million people are being affected by this storm, with 10 million expected to lose power. I'm good so far, and I'm prepared if I do lose power, but I think I'll be ok. This really is quite a storm.

I Call BS

I read an article in the NY Times today about this absurd thing called the "Castle Doctrine" in Montana. Apparently, if someone comes into your home, armed or not, you can go ahead and kill them. I'm sorry, but thats ridiculous. I freely admit I am anti-gun. I think they lead to more violence, not less. In any case, I read articles that both support the actions of the man I consider a murderer and the man who was killed. What neither article even mentions is that whether or not one believes he should have had a gun, there was no need to shoot to kill the man. What about injuring him and calling the cops? I still think thats wrong, but at least a life wouldn't have been lost. The same can be said for the "Stand Your Ground" law and the Trayvon Martin case. I don't think the SYG Law even applies in the Trayvon case, as Zimmerman clearly got out of his car against the orders of the 911 operator and engaged Trayvon. If it were to apply, again, there was no need to shoot to kill. But this goes back to my problem with guns. Those with them don't seem to think, they just react in the moment, and I would argue that that often leads to bigger problems and unnecessary deaths (and injuries). Sigh.

Stitchless

My stitches are gone, and not a minute too soon. I definitely waited too long to take them out, but I wanted my surgeon to do it so he could do a check up as well, and he was on vacation for 2 weeks. So I have nice little red marks on either side of my incision that I hope heal up quick. Sigh. Oh well. The good news is that the incision looks like it is healing well so far, and I can now start using Mederma to try and minimize the scar. I'm not quite sure how much this sucker is going to minimize though, because its freaking huge. While I knew it was long before since, hey, its on my leg, I didn't really think about the scar in comparison to the mole removed. Tonight I was re-reading the pathology report (no residual melanoma found, woohoo!), and it got me thinking about how small the original mole was compared to this gash in my leg. Its much better to have this gash and not have cancer, but wow. Its quite the comparison. I also have a bump at the top of my incision, and a dip from where they removed all that skin. My doctor says it should smooth out over the next 3-4 months. If it doesn't, I get to back and see him. If it does, I don't have to see him for a year, when he will just do an annual check of the incision/scar. Fingers crossed it smooths out on its own. And, as I stated before, better to have this bump than cancer.

Baseball

I never thought I'd say it, but this year I'm rooting for the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series. I was of course rooting for the Angels, but they didn't make it to the playoff's. So then I threw all of my support to the hometown Nats. Only to watch them blow a 6 run lead in the last game of their first playoff experience in 70 years. So now we are down to the Tigers, as well as the Yankees, Cardinals, and Giants. Why do those teams sound familiar? Because those are the last 3 winners of the World Series. Leaving Detroit as the de facto team to support. Sigh.

Boring Isn't Always Bad

Today someone at work asked what I did this weekend. I gleefully responded, "absolutely nothing." He then said, "I'm sorry," like it was a bad thing that I didn't do a whole heck of a lot this weekend. Granted, he doesn't know that I'm not really supposed to be doing much of anything anyway, but still, the fact that doing nothing is something to be pitied is new to me. Especially since there are many times when I relish having nothing to do. It means I can catch up on tv, read a book, listen to music, or just relax. I mean, why do we always have to be in go-mode? I think its actually better for us if we take time to calm down and relax every now and then. Especially if one has a stressful job. Regardless, my point is that doing nothing and being boring isn't necessarily something bad. In fact, sometimes boring can be great.

Leg Updates (With Pictures)

I have been remiss in writing about my leg post surgery, so here goes.

Here was my original mole:

Doesn't look too bad, right? Less than a millimeter big and never changing. Who knew it was cancerous? Well, obviously my dermatologist. Sigh. Here is the scar post-biopsy:

Not too shabby. Now here is my leg post surgery:

Nice big wrapping. And here is how it looked when I finally got the wrappings off:

So pretty, I know. Once I went to my post-op appointment, the doctor cleaned it  and replaced the steristrips:

I replaced the steristrips last weekend, and here is what it looked like before I covered it up again:

It looks pretty gnarly there, but I think part of that is because of the steristrips, since my skin doesn't like adhesive very much. I was going to change them again yesterday, but I decided to just leave them off and see if the skin around the incision got any better, which it has. I haven't uploaded the picture yet, but I'll get to it.

So that's it for now. I'm still limiting my walking and sitting with it up as much as possible. I think I've gained about 10 pounds being so inactive this past month, so I'm looking forward to doing anything physical once I get the all clear.  I'll get the rest of my stitches removed on Oct 22. The doc could have removed them on my 10 day post-op visit, but we didn't want to risk the incision opening up, so, we left them in. Fingers crossed they come out cleanly and painlessly next Monday!

A Little Piece of Me

The night before surgery I took out my cartilage piercing. I was a little worried about it, but I figured it would be back in in no time. Post surgery I didn't want to ask Dad to put it in, so I asked Mom when she was here. She couldn't get it in because of her nails, and she couldn't see the hole. I decided I would go to Claires in the mall and have them do it. Today I made my way to the store, and they wouldn't put it in. I was surprised, and pressed them, and they still refused. I walked out of the store absolutely deflated. I know its stupid, but that piercing is a piece of me and my one bit of rebellion. I'm a goody-two-shoes through and through, and I liked having that as my little bit of edge. As I walked out of the store, all I really wanted to do was cry. It sounds stupid. I mean, I haven't been all that emotional about too much that has happened as a result of this, this being cancer, but for some reason not being able to get my earring back in has really gotten to me. So why don't I just get it re-pierced? Well, it takes 3 months to heal, last time my curly hair got tangled around the stud, I had a lot of infections after I finally was able to change earrings, and what if I have another melanoma and have to have another surgery requiring me to remove it again? I feel like its just time to give it up, even though I'm not ready and am being forced to do so. A little piece of me is gone now, but I have to look at the big picture and be happy that that is my biggest problem right now. Granted, I still have my incision to deal with, but I knew that going in. I guess what I should say is that I should be happy that this is my biggest unanticipated problem.

Next up:

10/22: Removal of stitches

11/13: Dermatology appointment