Welcome Baby Matthew!!!

I spent yesterday with my daughter and son-in-law helping to bring their 2nd son into the world. What a joyous thing to share with them. Words cannot express how proud I am of my daughter. Childbirth is not for the faint of heart. She took the contractions one at a time and worked her way through. I choke up thinking about it.

Daniel Matthew was born at 2:21 in the afternoon and is a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz and 19-1/2 inches long! When you hold him, you know you've got something in your arms. :-) Early impressions are that he's pretty easy going and he's hungry ... all the time.

I also found out that the biopsy report on all 4 growths were benign. Yay! The stitches come out tomorrow. Yay again.

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. And we are.

Mole follow-up

It's Sunday now and I'm still feeling pretty good. I changed the bandages yesterday and everything looks good -- a little Frankenstein-ish with all the stiches, but good. There is no bandage on the one in my hair, but I still put some neosporin on it.

I'm amazed (and delighted) and how much they don't bother me! In a way, it's a problem. I don't have pain to remind me that they are there so I forget and hurt them by accident. Like when I folded my arms -- or tried to -- man that hurt the one under my boob! Or when I squatted down for something, that really hurt the one on my right calf. So I just have to remember to be careful about things like that for the next couple of weeks.

The doctor said no working out until the stitches come out. That worries me. I worked so hard to loose the weight, so not working out for so long is worrisome to me.

Moles, moles and more moles

I am a farm for moles. I swear. I've had a pretty big one under by left boob for several years now. Every year, during my annual checkup, I ask about it and, every year, the doctor says it's nothing -- it's just a mole.

This year I noticed a new one in my hair at my right temple. I asked about that in the spring and the doctor said the same thing. But it's gotten really big now in just one year. I was at the doctor for a blood pressure check (we changed up my medication) so I asked about it again. She still thinks it's not a problem, but says it looks irritated -- probably because it gets brushed when I brush my hair, I'm always pushing my hair behind my ear and I wear glasses. So she suggested that I get them both removed.

So, I went to a plastic surgeon and he agreed, they needed to go. While I was there, I asked about 2 other things that aren't moles. He didn't like the look of them and said we'd lop those off too. He's pretty sure they are basal cell carcinomas. We'll find out when they are biopsied.

So, today was lopping day. I was pretty nervous. I really expected the one at my temple to hurt. Just the thought of the injection into an area where the skin is so thin, made me nervous. I just didn't see how it wouldn't hurt ... a lot. But it didn't! And I definitely expected a bald spot for a bit, but nope! He didn't shave my hair or anything! Yay!

The one on my temple did hurt a little, but very little. And a slight burning sensation when he shot the lidocaine in, but also very little. The other 3 sites were a piece of cake. I felt tugging as he cut and stitched, but that was it. I was amazed. I was so tense going in; expecting a fair amount of discomfort. But there wasn't any. I was even chatting with the doctor and his nurse while he worked! Heavy sigh of relief.

Now I'm pretty tired ... probably because I was so tense for a while. But it's been 5 hours and I'm still not feeling horrible. Actually, I'm still not really feeling anything. I guess the lidocaine is still having some effect. Because at some point, I expect it to at least smart.

So if anyone out there is reading this and facing having moles removed, you can relax. It's really an easy procedure. Honest!