I got a call from the NP at the plastic surgeon’s office this afternoon. Apparently my dermatologist had spoken with her and recommended they prescribe a specific medicated cream to put on my wound each time I change the dressing to help the healing process. So, I hit up CVS on the way home from work to pick up the prescription and my oh my that cream better be amazing… the stuff cost me about $95.00 for a 45 gram tube! But, I guess if it gets me closer to not needing to change wound dressings twice a day, maybe it’s worth it? 🙂
Category: Health Update
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Back to the dermatologist today. She checked my surgery wound and said that everything was looking pretty good. She then checked me over for any signs of melanoma anywhere else on my person, now that we’ve gotten the removal of the initial spot out of the way. She said she did not find anything, so that is a relief.
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We met with an oncologist today. We discussed what treatment options might be available to me, and she also set up a PET scan for me in two weeks. The scan is basically to see if any cancer cells have spread beyond the single lymph node they found cancer in when they did the biopsy following my excision surgery in early July.
I was not really impressed by this doctor and I’m not sure she’s going to be a good fit for me.
- She doesn’t seem to have a good handle on her own schedule.
- She expressed concern as to why we had waited a whole month to see her for this first visit… we hadn’t waited, it was just the first available spot in her schedule.
- She also scheduled us to come back in two weeks and then one of her desk staff complained to us under her breath while scheduling the follow up visit (which could not be scheduled for at least three weeks) that this doctor frequently tells people to come in on a date when there are no openings in her schedule and often are no openings for sometimes several weeks after that.
- I also had a very difficult time communicating with her because English is not her first language and I don’t personally have the conversational skills needed to work through that kind of language and cultural barrier.
Basically, I’m not going to be comfortable working with any doctor if we cannot communicate easily and effectively. I guess for now we’ll get the scan, talk to her again after she sees the results, and then proceed from there.
- She doesn’t seem to have a good handle on her own schedule.
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Back to the plastic surgeon’s office on another Monday. Everything is still looking great according to them. I’ve been getting around a little easier after swapping my bandages for a compression sock. It definitely helped with mobility.
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Most visits to this doctor’s office I’ve only been seen by an NP. However, the visit was scheduled a little differently this week because the plastic surgeon himself wanted to take a look at how my leg was healing. The skin graft didn’t take as well as he had hoped, but it wasn’t a total loss because a good portion of it did adhere to the wound.
Everything is still healing up well. I’ve had no complaints regarding pain, just some insatiable itching where the healing is happening. It’s just a little bit awful to itch so badly but not be able to scratch or otherwise ease the itching! Scratching at this point in the process would damage the healing skin, so I can’t touch it…
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Everything is still healing up well and I’m becoming a regular here at the office. It almost feels like a second home at this point! 🙂
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I got another good report at the plastic surgeon’s office today. Everything is healing up pretty nicely according to them. I did express some concern about possible infection to the nurse practitioner (NP) due to the increased red look of the wound over the past few days. So, she prescribed an antibiotic for me to take for the next eight days, just in case.
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Back to the plastic surgery office again today, and another good report.
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Today was the second post operation visit to the plastic surgeon’s office. I got another good report and they want to see me back in a week. We’ve now been scheduled for weekly visits.
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Today was the first post operation visit to the plastic surgeon’s office. I got a good report and they want to see me back in a week.