Pat Bean's blog

OUCH!

            “”Any idiot can face a crisis – it is day to day living that wears you out.” – Anton Chekov

Bubba Bear: He’s a survivor, and so am I.

Six Weeks of Daily Bandage Changes:    That’s what the doctor said I would have to endure when he cut a huge circle out of my left forearm the size of a watermelon. OK, I’m exaggerating, but the skinless flesh wound left behind is easily one a tennis ball could pass through if it went all the way through my arm.

The surgery was to remove a melanoma, which began as a brown spot many years ago/ At first, it just looked like a big freckle, but it started to change a couple of years ago.

A selfie of my bandaged arm.

My old doctor and the first one I had here in Tucson said it was nothing to worry about. But my new doctor here in Tucson took one look at it, and quickly did a biopsy. When the results came back, he immediately made an appointment for me with a specialist to get it removed.

I never suspected its removal would leave such a big indention.

The skin cancer specialist said the hole would heal without a skin graph, and if I opted for the graph, the process would leave a hole in my thigh to get the necessary skin.

Two holes instead of one. That didn’t sound like much fun, so I agreed to let it heal on its own. The open wound, however, was really gross.

I had help changing the bandages for a few days, then decided to fly solo. Now the bandage changing is simply part of my daily routine. Thankfully, the wound, which is now 10  days old, hasn’t been painful, only annoyingly uncomfortable.

A cattle egret with attitude — my art of the day.

It’s also not quite as gross now. But I suspect, and the doctor agreed, that I will have a pretty good scar.

That’s OK. I’m an old broad survivor. And one of my daily images, as I sit in my living room chair drinking my morning coffee, is to look at the huge wall hanging of an old and scarred grizzly bear.

The bear is a piece of photographic art I bought in Park City, Utah, to celebrate my promotion to newspaper city editor back in the 1990s. I thought of the bear, which I dubbed Bubba, as a survivor, and used him as a daily role model before going to work each day to supervise a room full of feisty reporters.

Now I look at Bubba Bear and tell him I will survive six weeks of bandage changes, and have a scar as impressive as yours.

The Wondering-Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Uprooted Magnolia http://tinyurl.com/ml34ba5 I love these jackrabbit photos.