My Mohs Surgery Update

I didn't report here about the Mohs surgery fiasco that occurred earlier this month. So here goes.

The morning of Tuesday, January 3rd, was a busy one indeed.

I received a call from Heather at the Mohs Surgery Clinic giving a January 11th date for both John and me to have our procedures done (his eye, my nose).  Since John has been through the clinic twice already, they didn't need any information from him, but this would be my first visit as a patient, so they would need to complete a file for me.  Gayle would call later that morning to get my information.

But before Gayle called, Heather called again.

"Mrs. Fowler," she said, "you're having hip surgery on January 30th?"

"Yes, I am," I replied.

"What exactly are you having done?" she asked.

"Total hip replacement," I said.

"OK, that's all I needed to know," she said, "Gayle will call you shortly."

Prior to Gayle's calling me, I called my little chickadee to alert her to the January 11th booking so she could reserve the date (she would be our "babysitter" and driver for the occasion).

When Gayle called, before she gathered the information she needed to complete my file, she told me that the surgeon wanted me to get permission from my orthopedic surgeon to have the Mohs surgery done.  Apparently there is a requirement that there be 20 days between surgeries, and this would only  be 19 days.

I agreed that I would attempt to get that permission in the short timeframe available, and we proceeded to go through the questionnaire to complete my file, readying it for surgery day.

We agreed that I would fax information about my history (my list of meds etc) and I would include in it whether or not I had managed to contact my ortho surgeon.

"Oh, Mrs. Fowler," Gayle asked, "if you can't have it done on the 11th, will Mr. Fowler still have his procedure done?"

I asked John how he wanted to handle it, and he said no -- if I had to wait, he would too.

I placed a call to my ortho surgeon's office and left a message.

Then I called my little chickadee again and told her about the tentative status of the booking.  By then, she had had time to consider the situation.

"Mom," she said, "are you sure you should be doing this now?  I mean six months ago you didn't know you had it.  So what's another six months if you wait until after your hip surgery?  Do you really want to jeopardize that?  Have you MET your body?"

Of course, she was referring to my ability to experience complications from anything medical.

And she was right of course.

John and I discussed the matter and he agreed that my little chickadee was quite right.  I shouldn't have it done now.  Besides running the risk of my developing some kind of negative response, we knew that I would not be able to use the CPAP machine for at least a week (possibly longer) following the procedure.  That would be setting myself up to be sleep deprived going into the hip surgery.

So we decided that I should not have the Mohs surgery on the 11th but I convinced John that he should go ahead with his.  I didn't think he should put his health at risk since there was no compelling reason for him not to have his done now.  Eventually, he agreed.

I called Gayle and told her that I would not be having it done on the 11th -- but John would take the booking.

Let the record show that all the foregoing activity occurred before I took my shower and left the house to go into the big city for my 1:00pm physio session!

Anyway, on January 11th, John had what we hope is his final Mohs surgery.  This one required a skin graft so he has an extra wound that has to heal but he's coming along OK.  He's  having difficulty functioning with only one eye but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

However, the doctor was not too pleased with my decision not to have mine done.  (We won't talk about the fact that I still haven't heard back from the ortho surgeon, so I don't yet have his permission ...)

I told her that I was of the impression that there was no particular urgency to having it done. Once I explained to her all the considerations that came into play, she was a little more understanding about why I wasn't one of her patients on the 11th.  But she was distressed because it means that she won't be able to do my surgery now.

She'll be on maternity leave from late March 'til October, and she doesn't want me to wait until her return from maternity leave.  I offered the option of her coming into the clinic with her baby -- I love babies -- I could hold the baby for her while she cuts up my nose -- really I could!  Somehow, she wouldn't go for that idea.

She's referring me to the Mohs Clinic in Toronto.

As long as I'm booked for a date when the Jays are playing a home series, all will be good!

She assured me that she'd include that stipulation in the requisition.

Go Jays Go!