Flip Flop Flap

Today, per nurse’s instructions, I removed the bandages she put on yesterday. Carefully, using a clever technique she taught me: Take a cotton ball soaked in alcohol (the rubbing kind, not Stolichnaya) and dab the adhering part of the bandage. The alcohol loosens the adhesion so the bandage can be easily removed.

For the first time I got an actual 3 dimensional look at what I’m going to be dealing with for the next several weeks. I knew it was going to look bad, but it looks absolutely terrifying. The flap really is a flap, it just kind of hangs there loose. It is fused or stitched into my forehead and into the Mohs nose hole, but the rest of it is free to move. It feels like the slightest tug would detach it, which would be ‘a consummation devoutly to be unwished’.

I took a picture, but I’m not going to post it here. I’m my own biggest fan and I reread my blogs occasionally, chuckling at that clever fellow’s wit and wisdom. And I don’t want to be reminded of this. I don’t mind remembering this however: May in Malaucène 2019.

Besides wound care, there are some practical problems. I need to shave, but I don’t know if I can put the shaving cream on and wash it off without disturbing the flap. I might need to buy an electric razor.

Another complication: wearing glasses. I have bifocals, reading glasses and computer glasses. Because of the flap I have to put them in uncomfortable locations, and I can’t see the screen or the TV or a book too well. The eyestrain would give me a headache, except the stitches are already doing that.

Also my nose is running from the Mohs nostril for no apparent reason. Blowing or wiping are out of the question so I just dab with a Kleenex.

No exercise for a week, no road riding for 6 weeks, no 40th anniversary trip. Even the most basic anniversary celebratory ritual, if not exactly impossible, would require extensive modification and extreme caution. Of course I’m speaking about opening a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. You were imagining something else?