NICKEL & DIME RANCH: basal cell carcinoma, skin cancer

April 2011

5 1/2 hours at Edina Dermatology Specialists, with Dr. Sachin S. Bhardwaj.

Day of surgery

Day 3

The procedure itself was pretty grueling. The Dr. took small amounts of tissue at a time, tested it for cancer cells and if the outlining piece of skin still had BCC he'd have me come back to the room and take more. Each time they shot the area up with novicane, took more tissue and then injected a solution to stop the bleeding, which felt like cement going in my head....by the 5th time I was like- this better be it! Thankfully, yes. Unfortunetly we picked up the virus at the clinic. There was a waiting room for the patients and their loved ones. I'd go from the room where Mohs was performed to the waiting room adn be with Scott. There were 2 older people coughing away there. We both ended up getting the flu! Scott felt bad because he was going to help me out with cleanings, dressage changing, etc. Instead we both were insanely weak and just tried to function best we could. The site ended up getting infected. Went on antibiotics.

So....3 weeks later I had a follow up appt., the Doc said everything looked great and started poking around it...there was a yellow skin layer that had me concerned - he told me it was a fibrous tissue that forms during healing and it looked great. Next thing I know he's cutting the edges of it, pushing and pulling it off! NO WARNING! It hurt like hell- I was gripping the arms of the chair and sliding down- 3 times he had to cut, pull and push. I was sweating like a pig. He goes - all done! Everything looks great and it was good to see you Wendy- I replied "I wish I could say the same"- he laughed. Geez Doc- give a girl a break- you can't just start peeling and cutting without a "heads" up!

6 week follow up appt. update- Scar is smaller and he can do another small surgery, cut in the area, pull and stitch together- do I get a mini- face lift with that? Well, I opted to wait to see if the hair comes back. I can wait as long as I want. *update - I opted not to have surgery.

April 2013 - Another small area on my scalp. Mohs, Dr. Jeff Samuelson, Skin Care Doctors, P.A.

September 2015 - Small area on back, no Mohs, removal and stitches

February 2017 - Dr. Bart Endrizzi, Associated Skin Care Specialists, Maple Grove

Another area on the top of my head popped up. Dr. wanted me to try a chemo cream first since the area was so large, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Yikes! My scalp had scabs on top of scabs. Very painful, had to wash hair in bathtub. Wore lots of hats to work. After 2 months of cream we let it rest and heal.

August 2017 • Dr. did a biopsy and cancerous cells were still present, and deep.

He advised CHEMO! A drug called ERIVEDGE for 3 months (Sept.-Nov.) for advanced BCC skin cancer on scalp. I don't think I could have been on it longer than 3 months. The muscle cramps were insane plus loosing all my hair and taste buds, no fun. Scott shaved my head New Years Day 2018 - woohoo. I drew in eyebrows, embraced wigs for work and knit hats at home.