28 November 2008

Slice and dice

I am happy (sort of) to report that I finally have a date for surgery! After three frustrating months of waiting, I will finally be able to kiss this stupid cyst on my lip goodbye. While it doesn’t cause me much pain, it’s annoying and gets in the way. I can’t drink a coffee, kiss my husband, or generally use the right side of my mouth without irritating the lump. Even more annoying, is the fact that I have no idea how I got this stupid thing in the first place…just that ‘luck’ or the Irish I guess.

I’m not too worried about the procedure. I do find it mildly confusing that an ENT will be performing the surgery - last time I checked, a lip has nothing to do with ears, a nose or a throat? Oddly enough, however, he performs several of these removals each week at the Monfort Hospital. I assumed the surgery would take place at his office but he does it at the hospital in the event that he can't get the bleeding under control - apparently lips love the bleed...a lot (comforting thought). Bleeding like a 'stuck pig' aside, it’s a relatively simple 10-15 minute procedure performed under a local anesthetic (a.k.a. freezing). He will remove both the cyst and some of the surrounding tissue on my lower lip, slap on a few stitches and send me on my merry way. I actually want to see the damn little sucker before they send it off for biopsy; is that weird?

My only fear about the procedure is that I may temporarily loose some feeling in my lip; it could be for days, weeks or even a few months. I will also have some scarring on the inside of my mouth, but it should flatten out nicely within a year. In the rare event that the incision does not heal well, there may be a slight pull on the corner of my lower lip. I’m sincerely hoping that I won’t be his first unfortunate case; I really don’t want sad clown lips! All joking aside, I really do worry about cosmetic appearance. My lips and my smile are often described as two of my best physical attributes; I would hate to lose that.

I am fortunate that the surgery will be taking place on a Friday afternoon. Most of the pain or swelling should subside over the weekend and I’ll be able to return to work on Monday. I tend to bruise easily so I may come back to the office looking like I was in a bad bar fight, which is significantly cooler sounding than, “I had a mucosal cyst removed.”

Keep those fingers crossed for me on the 12th folks! Hopefully I’ll come out of this smiling. Either way, I’ll be sure to post grotesque pictures of my post-removal freak lip.

P.S. Check out that freaky looking little bugger. They will be removing a similar chunk from me...gross! Now go and enjoy your dinner.

1 comment:

F3rret said...

lol, you're going to "kiss it goodbye!". What a horrible pun, be ashamed. :P