Mom goes to the doctor tomorrow for minor surgery. We went to her dermatologist a couple of weeks ago for her regular quarterly check-up and he froze off two spots (on her forehead and back of shoulder) and biopsied two more (nose and neck). The nose sample came back malignant. And, unfortunately, he didn't get all of the tumor in the initial biopsy. So tomorrow we go back to finish off the job.
I haven't yet told Mom about the appointment, for two reasons: One, she gets very anxious before doctor appointments, worries about missing them, worries about presenting herself, worries about things she can't control, can't sleep, gets up hours early, in general--worries. Two, it's at 9:00 in the morning. She isn't going to like that at all. The operation's going to take a couple of hours and it's going to be a lot easier to get in first thing and get it over with.
She's going to end up with a little divot in her nose. My brother already has one from a similar operation several years ago. Skin cancer is just one of the costs of living down here. The doctor originally offered a couple of alternatives to this surgery. One was radiation therapy but we figured if one operation was going to stress mom out 9+ radiation sessions would send her over the edge. The other was for her to see a plastic surgeon but, at 91 years and counting and never getting out of the house except for doctors' visits, we're not terribly concerned about the divot damaging her social life.
I'll tell her at dinner.
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