Skin Cancer

I went to the dermatologist for a skin exam last week.  He found a suspicious spot on the back of my right shoulder.  He was able to cut it out right then.  He said it was likely a basal cell carcinoma.  If you have to get cancer, that is the one you want.  It is slow growing and almost never metastasizes.

He got the pathology report today and it was indeed basal cell carcinoma.  The bad news is that it was deeper than expected.  Now I get to have surgery to remove a larger and deeper area.  It will leave a nice scar, but as anyone who has seen my body it won't be a problem.  My days as a shirtless supermodel are over.

March Madness

I don't know if my current problem is physiological or psychological.  Thus the madness.  This week I have been so dizzy I can barely function.  If I stand up I start to black out.  The world spins and I get motion sickness.  I get this sensation all the time, but this week it is constant.  About the only thing I can do is lay down.  Sometimes I can sit up.  That leaves me with few options.  Luckily it is March.  The bad part of March is that I turned 43 today.  The good part is that it is the perfect time to be confined to a couch. 

Watching the NCAA basketball is awesome.  Having every game in full allows me to be content lying around.  My wife wonders if this sudden "affliction" isn't somehow a bit too convenient.  She has a point.  Either way, I am couch bound.  Go Cougars!!

Father and Son

Riley and I had to make a cake for the Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  The theme was a picnic.  We looked through ideas on the Internet and then Riley picked the cake he wanted.  It took me a while to find out how to make all the different parts, but it was a fun activity.

Riley picked a yellow cake and he mixed and baked it.  He made some butter cream frosting and I covered the cake in it.  I made a marshmallow fondant and colored it yellow and blue.  I covered the cake in the yellow and blue checkerboard picnic blanket look.  Riley made the ants out of brown M&M's and black frosting.  I made the plate out of red starbursts.  Riley made the burgers from vanilla wafers and snickers with yellow and red frosting to hold the pieces together and look like ketchup and mustard.  The hot dogs were made from orange starbursts and vanilla wafers and the red and yellow frosting.  We had a great time and actually WON first place.

Chicken Pox

I just got back from the doctor.  I have the chicken pox.  No way!  I had them as a kid and I don't go anywhere.  How in the world did I get exposed?  The doctor said it is the type you get from someone who was vaccinated.  Maybe I should do home study church...LOL.

Lab Results

The doctor had me do some routine blood work since I am on Amiodarone.  They showed that I am hypothyroid.  This has caused me to put on some weight and slowed down my GI system.  After going 10 days without any "results" I had to have a colonoscopy.  I had to do 2 days of cleansing to get things cleared out.  Now I have to take MiraLAX daily.  It also showed my liver is not functioning as well as it should.  The doctor cut my dose in half and I will have new tests run this week.  I see the doctor the first part of February for the results.  Hopefully I will get to discontinue the Amiodarone.  I am nervous about what that will mean for my heart, but I will be glad to be rid of the side effects.

Results

My heart function test was the same as before.  That is good news since there wasn't further deterioration.  My rhythm was also stable.  My doctor actually told me to increase my salt intake.  That I can definitely do!!  Now we have to wait another six months before we can start dropping some medications.  That is frustrating!  I was really hoping to get off some of these dangerous medications.  Oh well.  At least I'm not going backwards any longer.

Testing

On September 28th I had some testing done.  I had a MUGA scan and got a 24 hour halter monitor.  Just routine testing that I made memorable.

A MUGA scan is performed by attaching a radioactive substance, Technetium 99, to red blood cells, then injecting the red blood cells into the patient’s bloodstream. The patient is then placed under a special camera (a gamma camera), which is able to detect the low-level radiation being given off by the Technetium-labelled red cells. Since the red blood cells (including those that are radio-labelled) fill the cardiac chambers, the image produced by the gamma camera is essentially an outline of those chambers. With some fancy computer manipulation, the the final product is a movie of the heart beating.  To insure that the red blood cells aren't damaged, they use a large bore needle.  Ouch!

The tech drew the blood and was securing the port to my arm for when they would be inserting my "labelled" blood back into my vein.  This was interrupted by me going vagal.  In regular terms, I passed out.  When I do something, I do it well.  A while later I awoke (partially) on the floor.  I don't remember how I got there since I was sitting in a chair with an arm restraint in front.  Oh well, I was laying there with one tech passing something below my nose and the other trying to take my blood pressure.  There was also a guy in the room.  As I came around more I learned that I had an ice pack under my neck, my feet where elevated on a chair, I was on my second smelling salt and they guy was a cardiologist.  After about 40 minutes, they allowed me to sit and drink some juice and eat some crackers.  About 20 minutes later they were ready to finish the testing.  I would like to apologize to everyone whose appointments ran late that day.  Some idiot was being a drama king and requiring too much attention.

I don't get my results until October 21st.  I hope they are good, but fear they won't be as I have been doing poorly this last month or so.