Lungs for Mandy

Hi there. I hope you have been able to enjoy this holiday season. I certainly have even with the ups and downs of the last few weeks. Grandpa Bob is now here for Christmas!!! I was fortunate to have him stay here at my apartment. He wouldn’t sleep in my bed and chose and twin size Aero bed instead. His back will probably be bothering him the rest of his trip. We had a blast though - I’m evil because I never want to share him with the rest of my family, but I understood he had to move on to the next house. I prefer to go to Atlanta to visit him because I get him and my step-grandmother Carla’s undivided attention. Plus, I understand the temperature there is 43 degrees compared to our 8 degrees….

Today Gramps and I went to meet my Uncle Kenny and my cousins Shannon and Megan. We had breakfast at this hole in the wall place which has WONDERFUL food. ‘My Grandma’s Kitchen” has biscuits and gravy closet to the way my grandmother Wilma used to make. Delicious! We then headed to my Uncle Kenny’s church for a Christmas program which was really a great experience. It was called the Little Drummer Boy and it was fascinating. I would guess that there were always more than 30 drums on stage at a time playing traditional Christmas music without the traditional style. I was in amazement when the group performed their last song. It was really great even though I dozed off once or twice because of the earlier biscuits and gravy. It was a really enjoyable time and I’m very happy to have been invited.

I am 80% finished shopping which is a good feeling especially since I just spoke to a friend that hasn’t even started–yikes. I will brave the insane crowd of shoppers and head to the mall and Target in the early morning to finish a few last minute items. Then Mom and I are baking cookies, as if my hips can take anymore fattening food I see dieting and exercising in my future, you know when the new year begins. That means I have two weeks to eat whatever I want!!

So the two spots on my scalp are about healed and the Vaseline mess is gone. However, after my last dermatology appointment and biopsies, I need to have another MOHs scalp procedure on two spots near the front of my head. They are both pretty small and should be less entailed as the others. Anyway, that procedure will happen in early February.

The tough news is that I will have to have the surgery on my lip January 7th.  I have started to call it “the complete overhaul of my bottom lip.” And honestly is an rare overhaul, actually the doctor I am seeing has only done 5-6 of these types of procedures which is a little nerve-wrecking. Although, he comes highly recommended and does this surgery instead of allowing residents to complete it. Luckily, I have changed my former attitude of Barnes to a more trusting attitude and I feel Dr. Nussenbaum will do just fine.

 For the procedure, I will be sedated and kept in the hospital for a day or two, depending how I do after sedation. Here comes the real entailed portion, Don’t read if you are faint at heart…..

The lip cancer I have is most common in fair-complected white males in their sixth decade of life. Just a little humor to make myself fell better because I am so NOT in that category. Anyway, I have to have a procedure called a Vermilionectomy and basically all that means is cutting along the bottom lip line, pulling out the bottom lip, cutting the cancerous areas off and eventually stitching the unaffected area back into place in essence, basically creating a new bottom lip with the skin from inside my mouth, right in front of my bottom teeth. I will have stitches from corner of my bottom lip to the other side. Plus the affected area on the left is very invasive and appears a little further down on the which means the  doctor is going to have to go a little beyond my lip line or the vermilion. This will create somewhat of a small triangular incision below in addition to removal of everything else. Pretty crazy huh? Yeah I agree. The doctor assures me that the inside of my lip which will the be on the outside, “Will eventually look like a normal lip.” I wanted to ask what his definition of ”eventually” meant. Whether it meant by next Christmas or by the time I’m 40?? I held the a**hole questions inside because he probably doesn’t really know. I also have the tendency to ask and ask until I get the right answer from a doctor. I have also learned that everyone heals different and what may happen in Johnny’s situation may not always happen in my case.

I guess the positive part of it all is that I will have a new, skinny bottom lip without the dryness that may eventually look like a normal lip. The doctor suggested that they are ways to make my bottom lip larger - Botox. I wanted to say “Buddy, I am driving a 1999 car with two year old, expired plates, a busted hubcap and a window that takes Hercules to open so I don’t think Botox is an option unless Medicaid pays for it”. Again, that is what I wanted to say but held it back.

Oh the reason for my title — Did you know that Fran Drescher wants to take over Hillary Clinton’s spot on the senate? Hmmm very interesting. I wonder if they’ll be able to tolerate that laugh?

Michael, Wherever you are I am hoping that you are at peace! You will be missed…

So Dr Klekotcka or Dr K as I call him figured out the Vaseline mess…use mineral oil. It worked! I am happy to say I have grease-free hair again.

Just in time for more surgery….Last week Dr K took two more biospies of spots on my scalp. Both are squamous cells and I will have to have another procedure to have them removed. Luckily they are not as deep as the others. Oh well, what can I do? Just get them removed. I know now that I use a little bit of Vaseline not an entire handful.

I am sad to inform you that Michael passed away this afternoon after his long battle. I don’t even know what I can say or do to express my disappointment and sadness because he was one of the strongest, sweetest guys ever. Anyone who has ever met him understands that. Michael didn’t give up and continued to fight until this afternoon with his family surrounding him. Please continue the prayers for his family for they will need as much strength as can be given. Michael will truly be missed and I feel so fortunate to have known him. Life is so complicated and difficult to understand sometimes. The one and only comfort I have right now is that he somewhere very comfortable, hopefully playing football or riding a bike with no shortness of breathe or discomfort. Other than that I’m pissed he was taken at such an early age after conquering so much….