So here’s a post that has nothing to do with social media, marketing, the Sounders, Mariners, or pretty much anything I’ve ever written about.

It’s been a pretty nutty year so far, and somewhere just under the “Super High” part of the Priority List, I had this nagging item that never seemed to get dealt with.  It simply said, “Get lip checked out.”

It had started a few months back, when I noticed a few splotches under my lower lip.  After noticing it a little more, I had gone into the dermatologist to get some cream to make it go away.  Now here we were in February or so, and the splotches weren’t any better.  And when I finally got it checked out again, this time the dermatologist said, “It’s probably nothing, but it worries me a little, so why don’t you go upstairs to the surgeon and have them take care of it.”

So the consult with the surgeon was interesting.  A seemingly nice, funny, likable guy told me that he wanted to carve into my face.  Well his words were that he wanted to do a biopsy on the tissue to make sure nothing bad was going on.  I really only heard, “Surgery” and “Biopsy.”  He said he could do a simple “punch” something, but would feel more comfortable just using a scalpel and taking out all of the discoloration in a simple procedure.

Now I may be a giant sissy, but this was the first time I ever had to make any kind of crazy decision like this for my own body and I was a little freaked.  Option 1: Do nothing, assume that the discoloration was a simple anomaly that wouldn’t spread, and just deal with it.  Option 2: Take a tiny little sample, get a reasonably sound prognosis that the discoloration wasn’t a malignant tumor, and just deal with the spreading cells later.  Option 3: Go under a knife, take out all the discoloration, and learn for sure that the discoloration was or wasn’t malignant.

I was a little grouchy and stressed for a few days last month while I weighed the pros and cons.  Then I finally decided to just have the thing removed and tested.  I made the appointment, and walked around with somewhat of an odd attitude for a few weeks.  I was 95-99% sure that this was going to come out all right.  But, I couldn’t help thinking that if there wasn’t a chance it was going to turn out poorly, no one would want me to go through the risk.  I hate to be cheesy, but it puts a few things in perspective for you.

I’ve lived a pretty healthy life, so when my surgery day arrived last Monday, and I found myself sitting in the chair waiting for the guy to carve a piece out of my lip, I have to admit it was quite a new experience for me.  It’s not a subject that comes up in conversation at the pub, so I had no idea what the proper amount of fear was supposed to be.  So I pretty much had them stick the Novocain needle in, then I closed my eyes and listened while they went to work on my face.

45 minutes later, the cutting and stitching was done, and I was on my way home with a bottle of vicodin, a bunch of gauze bandages, and the promise of test results in a week.

And so for a week I tried to go on like nothing was different, except I was eating soft foods, trying harder than normal not to get hit in the head with a softball or soccer ball, and wondering why it takes 7 days for them to test a few little cells.  For the record, the hardest part of spending a week with a scar on your face is trying not to alarm anyone when they ask you what happened.  

And so today my little saga finally came to an end.  The good news – tests all came back with “Malignancy result negative.” And of course in this case, negative is positive, because it means there is no tumor and any worry was for naught.  The stitches came out, and I should have a normal looking lip again soon. 

As my friend Ari said, “Yup, we’re starting to get to that age where weird shit happens.” He may not be Voltaire, but the philosophy is still sound.   Thanks to everyone who provided the kind words of encouragement over the last month or so.  My favorite lines – “Well as long as they are there, have them fix the rest of your face.” And, “See if they’ll throw in botox for free.”  

The shots below were taken to record “Before Surgery,” “After Surgery,” “7 days of Recovery” and after the stitches were taken out.