Friday, May 17th - More skin cancer

Friday, May 17th, 8:15 am, I went to the dermatologist for a biopsy of three suspected skin cancers on my face that he was worried about. He asked if I had read up on interferon, which is injections in the area three times a week for several weeks. If it works right they will dissolve the cancer, but there are side affects. The other option was for a plastic surgeon to cut it out. He wanted to know what I wanted to do. When I said that I wasn't sure. He said, "Well, if you want to go the plastic surgeon route, then we won't do the biopsies, because the surgeon can send them in to the lab when he cuts them out and you won't have to pay for the biopsies." I questioned whether the insurance would pay if  the biopsy was not done and he seemed unsure. Then he said, "Well, I have many years experience and I know they are skin cancer, so why don't I just scoop them out and send them to the lab and you may not have to do anything else. By then I was a little nervous, but he made it seem like it would be no big deal, so I said okay.

Then the real fun started...He shot me with Novocaine at the top inside of my nose by my right eye. I would be lying if I said that it did not hurt. There is just not anything there but bone...ouch. The second one was the biggest one, by my right eyebrow. He shot that one twice and wiggled the needle around under the skin...by now I am not so happy about my decision. The third one was a bump you could hardly see right by my nostril. That one hurt the most and I was ready to bolt, but they all started to get numb right away. In fact, the shot by my nostril numbed my upper lip, so I felt like I had been at the dentist. Ten minutes later, he started cutting and really did scoop them out. The only one that hurt was the one by my nostril and he had trouble with that one. I think he had second thoughts about it being skin cancer, but he had already started, so he had to scrape and dig at that one...ouch. Then he burnt all of them to make sure all cancer cells were dead. I now have three holes in my face...the one by my eyebrow is a real crater and all are extremely obvious. The only good news was that he only charged $230 for the whole procedure. I just hope I don't have to do anything else and it will have been a good idea. I see him again in three weeks to determine whether I need to have plastic surgery or if it is healing good and doesn't need it. The bad news is that right before he cut me I learned that he is an Islamist, so as he stood over me with his knife, I had a moment of worry. Actually Abdullah seems like a nice man, even though he has a long white beard. I saw a picture of his new grandchild and he was very happy to have his first grandchild. He showed me the photo on his phone. This is definitely one of those stories I can tell everyone when I get home. There are lots of Muslims living here that wear white robes and round flat hats with long beards. I see them mainly at the malls and lots of women with burkas as well. They are probably trying to escape the madness in their own countries.

That evening we decided to go to Bloemfontein for the establishment of a new stake there. Oh well, I just look like I have leprosy. But, the mission must go on and at least today, I don't feels any worse than I would with a skinned knee. I can do this.