Jan. 26: Matt Update and Cathy's Bump

Well, today Matt has his radiation treatment #10 - whoo-ho! He is still feeling pretty good although with some ups and downs. Literally, overnight, he has developed a pretty obvious rash/red bumps all along his cheek and neck and he says it is officially uncomfortable (on the outside) now. He can't shave - but Dr. H, who we saw today also - said his beard hair will be falling out soon anyway so he won't have to worry about that. So...more later this week.

On a separate front: Cathy is going to share the post today!

Long story short, this summer I developed a small bump on my upper left arm, and given all this bad-bump stuff going on for Matt - and some concern about that stupid HPV virus - I spoke with my primary doctor and she referred me to a surgeon to have it looked at and taken out. I had an appointment this morning I thought was for a consult only, however the dr. looked at the bump, looked at me, asked if I wanted it out and when I said YES, he said, "do you want to do it right now?" and I said YES again, and voila 30 minutes later they cut the little puppy out, stitched me up and off back to work I went. I have this really groovy big bandage on my arm (check it out!) and it hurts a bit but nothing that Advil can't tackle. Matt offered me some of his pain meds but I am happy to say I don't need that level!

It's a tiny bit gross but a photo (of course!) is right; friendly RN (who helped keep me distracted by chatting with me the whole time) above. It ended up being the size of a pecan half so am really glad its out. The weirdest part was when they cauterized the incision site: there is nothing like laying there chatting with the RN and having wisps of smoke from your own flesh (he was sealing blood vessels) wafting above me!

The McFarland female genes do lend themselves to benign little lumps, cysts so the chances are best that is what it is - but it will be nice to know for sure (and plus, this way I will have my groovy arms back for the summer!).Results from pathology later this week. So that's the Cathy update!