Today was my appointment with the dermatologist about this skin issue. Wouldn’t you know it by the time I finally get in to see the dermatologist, the sores are actually healing up. But I kept the appointment because, given the history of the last year, I think I can bet money they’ll be back.
Just for my own personal documentation purposes, if I was working I would have missed a half a day of work today for this appointment.
These sores aren’t serious, just annoying.
They bleed – and sometimes they bleed so badly that they bleed right through my bra and blouse and cause quite a scene.
Other times they just bleed a little bit – and when they’re new they’re pussy. You just never know. When they finally do heal they leave behind these purple scars.
The doctor did a complete skin look over – and I do mean complete. I was relieved it was a woman as for some reason I wasn’t expecting that. She complemented me on what good shape my skin is in given that I have albinism. She didn’t see a lot of sun damage, and nothing that looked like skin cancer. That was nice.
But, she and the senior doctor decided that they needed to take not one but two skin biopsies.
I hate situations like this that get sprung on me. We discussed my HPS and bleeding tendency. They felt that DDAVP was overkill, that this was a simple procedure. I said I’d let them do it as long as they promised me to not send me home with anything bleeding and to provide backup care if I had any complications in a timely manner (no waiting days for an appointment.)
So we went ahead.
Skin biopsies are so strange. They give you a little shot to deaden the area and it does. But the weird thing is even when the skin has no feeling for the biopsy, as they wipe on the iodine you can feel the coolness of it. I could even feel the texture of the gauze the nurse used. And yet I had absolutely no idea when they shaved off the piece of skin. My blood draw, which was nothing, had more feeling than the skin biopsy.
So far I’ve had no bleeding complications.
I expected it to be a bit sore this evening as sometimes when I have them done at NIH they can be a bit sore after the drug wears off. Tonight they just itch like crazy. I’m sometimes sitting on my hands to keep from scratching!
Just for my own personal documentation purposes, if I was working I would have missed a half a day of work today for this appointment.
These sores aren’t serious, just annoying.
They bleed – and sometimes they bleed so badly that they bleed right through my bra and blouse and cause quite a scene.
Other times they just bleed a little bit – and when they’re new they’re pussy. You just never know. When they finally do heal they leave behind these purple scars.
The doctor did a complete skin look over – and I do mean complete. I was relieved it was a woman as for some reason I wasn’t expecting that. She complemented me on what good shape my skin is in given that I have albinism. She didn’t see a lot of sun damage, and nothing that looked like skin cancer. That was nice.
But, she and the senior doctor decided that they needed to take not one but two skin biopsies.
I hate situations like this that get sprung on me. We discussed my HPS and bleeding tendency. They felt that DDAVP was overkill, that this was a simple procedure. I said I’d let them do it as long as they promised me to not send me home with anything bleeding and to provide backup care if I had any complications in a timely manner (no waiting days for an appointment.)
So we went ahead.
Skin biopsies are so strange. They give you a little shot to deaden the area and it does. But the weird thing is even when the skin has no feeling for the biopsy, as they wipe on the iodine you can feel the coolness of it. I could even feel the texture of the gauze the nurse used. And yet I had absolutely no idea when they shaved off the piece of skin. My blood draw, which was nothing, had more feeling than the skin biopsy.
So far I’ve had no bleeding complications.
I expected it to be a bit sore this evening as sometimes when I have them done at NIH they can be a bit sore after the drug wears off. Tonight they just itch like crazy. I’m sometimes sitting on my hands to keep from scratching!
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