Forehead Clearing, Surgery Scheduled

It has been almost a month since I began the treatment of my forehead with Picato. It is on its way to clearing, but has a way to go yet. The swelling has gone down, though my eyelids still look uneven. I won’t know until I see the Dermatologist again in the fall whether it has done what he wanted it to do. I will tell him that I believe the cryosurgery is easier on the rest of my face, and I’d prefer to continue with that, uncomfortable as it may be in the moment.

I have scheduled surgery for the squamous on my chin. For a few days after the biopsy, and before the results were shared with me, my chin felt as though I’d been punched, lightly, and I only felt it when I pressed at the site to clean it. That sensation is gone now, and the small ‘punch hole’ left by the biopsy looks so harmless. But they tell me it is squamous, and squamous is not as slow in developing as basal, and will metastasize as melanoma does. So it will be removed in a week or so.

But before then, on this Wednesday July 31st, The New England Author Expo will take place at the Danversport Yacht Club. I’ve gathered my books; Rick has two small wooden bookshelves for my table; I have a banner from Vistaprint; we ordered new Rack Cards as well, featuring the new sequel and its companion book about Rick and me. We will break even if I am able to sell twenty or more of my books there. And if not … lesson learned.

We celebrated my mother’s 75th birthday there at Danversport, back in 1995. My granddaughter was just six weeks old then, and is now heading to college in the fall. Eighteen years have passed, and Mum would have been 93 this spring. Dad would have turned 100 yesterday. My high school principal turned 102 last month, and is still here on earth. I first met him at a transitional point in my life, in 1965. A different century, with its own changes in play. Leaving the city behind, parochial school behind, subways behind, he welcomed me to small town life, co-ed classrooms, fewer courses, sports, school clubs and walking home – about the same distance I’d traveled home in the city, but more often now on foot. I can’t tell even today whether it was for the better or not, or who I might have been had I remained in the city through the rest of high school. None of us really knows where the other road might have led.

Life expectancies are increasing. Quality of life for elders who live that long is different today than it was a generation ago. Few are fortunate enough to finish their days in their own homes, and instead are in care facilities. Facilities is such a cold, heartless word, and I don’t mean to attribute that connotation to the full time skilled nursing care homes where elders often find their finish lines. Staff is most often dedicated and compassionate. With we baby boomers now reaching retirement and soon following with elder care needs of our own, it would behoove us to make sure those facilities are adequately staffed despite the continuing economic difficulties our over-sized generation has experienced. Some say things will be better when we have moved on; I am not so sure of that. But it will be for another generation to witness whether that is true or not.  Too many of one age always means a shortage of essentials for that age. Overcrowded schools, then limited job openings, and crowded highways of too many commuters on aging highway  infrastructure built originally for a smaller traffic flow and slower vehicles … and now assisted living and skilled nursing homes face the incoming crowds.

But for now,  Rick and I are happily in our own home, living our happily ever after lives, and dealing as honestly as we can with what life poses in our path.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend:  I am so blessed in my marriage with Rick; he is the true a hero in my stories. You can find both the original memoir and its sequel, Multiple Sclerosis, Melanoma and More at my webstore, on Amazon and at Smashwords. Or come visit me for an autographed copy.

 

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• Posted in: Family ♦ health update ♦ Skin Cancers
• Tagged: an Enigma, Danversport Yacht Club Author Expo, Dermatology, health, Melanoma and More, multiple sclerosis, New England Author Expo, Rick, Squamous epithelial cell, Terry Crawford Palardy author