Sunspot

Herself speaks.

This past weekend, Cherished Friend, Beloved Husband, and I took a very pleasant hike in the nearby desert. So refreshing to be out in the open air, with the ocotillo and the rocks and the blue sky. We spotted a very nice lizard, and also a beautiful snake warming itself on some rocks. Nice.

I put on sunscreen before we left, and again halfway through. The sun is bright, and I am a pale person; also, I had scheduled my annual visit with the dermatologist for the day after the hike, and did not want to arrive at my appointment with a sunburn. That's just wrong, somehow. 

The physician's assistant is a kind and gentle-spoken woman who never makes me feel self-conscious about skin aberrations. I brought to her attention that one spot -- near the tip of my nose, of all unfortunate places -- that I've been watching with a little bit of trepidation. I'd had an actinic keratosis (AK) in that location a few years ago, addressed by liquid nitrogen. (I'm becoming rather used to the occasional freezing-of-problematic-spots at the dermatologist's office.) The spot was, somehow, once more not quite right. It was subtle, but it was noticeable, both to me and to her under her hand-held magnifying light. Recurrence of the AK? Or something else?

She recommended biopsy. And so that's what we did. It will take a week to ten days to get the results, and then we will know whether another MOHS surgery will be necessary. If I had to guess, I think it's likely. 

I am trying to remain sanguine about the situation: best to tackle things now, before they get worse. I'm not particularly vain -- much too old for that nonsense -- yet having a surgical scar right across  my nose will be... unsightly at first, to say the least. Alas. But what else can I do? 

We shall see what happens.

Oh, to be a snake, who can sun herself without fear.