Bright Blue Stitches

I got my blue stitches taken out Saturday. The incision is healing fine. I didn't mention this before...since it was so deep the doctor had to cut through several layers of skin which meant having to stitch up 2 layers. The underneath layer of stitches will dissolve but it'll take 3 months. I can feel them which is kinda weird. So I still have to be a bit careful about stretching my neck but I can exercise again and don't have to worry about sweating. Yay!

The mole turned out to be a benign cyst. No worries. Our skin is so amazing! It was such a weird feeling when the doctor pulled the stitches out. I thought surely there would be a scar where each stitch was but that seems to be healing really well too.

By the way, the whole process (minor surgery, 2 layers of stitches, lab test of the cyst and 2 doctor consultations) cost about $100. Not bad.

Gross....but kinda cool

Here's the gross part...a mole started growing on my neck about a year ago. It's kept growing and growing. I didn't really think it was the kind that was cancerous but it sure was ugly. It's gotten so big lately that my students asked me about it. I said it was a button that turned me on and off. They kept trying to turn me off so I decided now is the perfect time to get it cut off.

I checked at several laser clinics and they said it was too big to laser off. So I went to the hospital (had to go twice, the skin doctor is only there Saturdays 4-6). She had to make 2 incisions to remove it. It was bigger under the skin as you could imagine. I needed 7 stitches to close up the incision! Here's the photo:
It's red all around because I just took the bandage off.

The unfortunate thing about this is I'm in the middle of training for a race. The doctor said I shouldn't sweat (funny to say that in Thailand) and no exercise because it could put too much pressure on the skin. sigh. At least it'll be gone when I visit...speaking of which, I'll be in NY in one month!!!!