New tattoo!

Chris put money aside (or at least that's what he thinks...we spent a little more than we should've) for my birthday so I could get a tattoo. The new girl at work knew of this reasonably priced guy in Indiana so I made an appointment with him and me and Jenn drove the hour or so trip. It was hard trying to decide what to get but then it hit me: I promised myself my next tattoo would be a tribute to my favorite children's book A Child's Garden of Verses by (Google Affiliate Ad)illustrated by Susan Bonners. It's a tree from the Land of Nod illustration and two lines from the poem.

I have a hot ass

Literally. I'm sitting on my heating pad because my tail bone aches like the dickens. I'm not sure if I sat on it wrong when I was vegging yesterday watching Doctor Who and doing laundry or if it's just my stupid fibrous dysplasia. When I was 15 or 16, for a whole year my tail bone ached. I specifically remember in church, we had Sunday school in the basement and we were basically sitting on those white plastic lawn chairs. After sitting for so long, then standing up, I almost cried my tail bone hurt so badly. I never was able to figure out why it hurt back then, until I was diagnosed.

The forehead looks pretty much the same. Still has the line down the middle and dots where each stitch was. I bought a new silicone sheet since I lost half of mine, and at my latest derm appointment, the nurse scheduled me for some sort of laser treatment to get rid of the redness. I was too tired at the time to think, but I need to call them and ask if my insurance will cover that or not.

For my birthday, Chris said he would give me $200 for a tattoo. I told the girls at work that we should all go get tattoos and we got in touch with an artist about an hour away. He did a tat for the new girl and it looks really good and it was pretty cheap. My one coworker faxed him all of our tattoo ideas to get them priced, but I need to text her and ask if he got back to her. He initially said he was booked up until July, but, come on, it's my birthday!

Slowly fading

Do you see what I meant in my last post about the line? There's a space in the middle that smooths over, but I'm starting to think that's an eczema patch, as it's super itchy and rough feeling. Thought just occurred to me: hopefully it's not the skin cancer grown back already. If it is eczema, I think it's from the new Palmer's scar oil stuff I've been using these past couple days. When I get home, I'm going to wash my face and put the silicone patches on and maybe do Vaseline in the morning. (Had to work this weekend. Got my homework done today because it was so slow.)

The girl I'm working with/training this weekend smokes and I walked down the hall after she came back from a smoke break. The smell reminded me of my grandma's old apartment building when I was younger. We went there every summer and spent the night. Somehow, I'd always end up in the room with the creepy dolls. I remember hearing crickets outside the window as I tried to fall asleep in this strange place. I don't think I ever walked in my sleep there, though. I have a habit of sleep walking/talking when I'm sleeping in a new environment, unless it's a hotel. I love hotels, don't ask me why. Not too sure myself why I love them.

Want. To. Scratch. Forehead.

Silicone patches

Taken a couple days ago:


Last night, I stopped putting Vaseline on my wound and started with the Dr. Blaine's Scar Repair silicone patch (which I had to cut to make it fit on my ginormous forehead). When I took it off this morning, you could see the line down my forehead, like someone took a light pencil and drew it down the middle of the wound. It still looks like that and I would take a picture, but I'm at work and taking selfies at work (with other people around) is weird. I think I'm able to make more faces, seeing as every time I make one my forehead hurts. I can definitely feel the skin pulling. On the 14th, I'll start massaging it to make sure the stitches inside it broke up.

Oh yes! I finally got my refund, if I haven't said that already. We bought a sectional sofa, chaise, and ottoman at Big Lots on Easter. We have to rent a Uhaul to pick it up and take our old stuff to the dump and that can't happen until Friday. Taking the car in to the dealership on Tuesday to have the brakes and transmission fluid replaced and also have the alignment done. Went shopping on my day off; got new work pants, some jeans (because I only had one wearable pair), some work shirts, and some new tank tops, though I think I'm going to go back and get different sizes of them. The girl at Maurice's convinced me to get a size medium because that's what she wears (for the record, she cannot squeeze herself into a medium and still have the ability to breathe). I like the tank tops, I just think I should've gone with a large. I mean, my boobs are being pressed against my spinal cord.

Anyway, I also finally bought Microsoft Office Student and Corel Painter Lite. I feel like my laptop is complete now.

My forehead is tingling. Every so often it does that. Maybe Voldemort is around. (I'm not a huge HP fan, but I did see the first movie in theaters.)

Mohs Surgery Recovery: Stitches out!

I actually got my stitches out yesterday, but forgot to write about it. Yesterday was 12 days after the surgery; seems a little weird, but ok. The nurse was impressed with how good the wound looked. One more week of Vaseline, then they gave me this Dr. Blaine scar repair stuff. It's a silicone patch that you stick over the scar for 12 hours. It last up to three months. I'm thinking I'm going to cycle it over all my scars- stretch marks, piercing scars, acne scars, etc. I also have to start massaging the wound on April 14th. Not looking forward to that. It says it will hurt and that's normal. Ick.

Mohs Surgery: Looking better

Getting my stitches out on Tuesday. I think all the puffiness is gone from my face and the stitches don't hurt so much. Still can't make my usual faces.

Chris did laundry last weekend and managed to not wash most of my work clothes. I had to pull out my emergency pants and such. Becka and I hung out yesterday and went to the mall. I bought some shirts at Old Navy; some of my staples shirts have holes in them. I also picked up a pair of jeans there. They are super comfortable. I didn't think I could find a comfy pair of jeans again. Next time I get paid I'm going to have to pick up another pair. I also bought new cami tank tops (for $20/each!) but I might return them to get another size or something different. It rode up on me the whole time we were at the grocery store. Super annoying.

You know what else is annoying? I randomly chose to use H & R Block online to do my taxes, we'll have to wait 4-6 weeks to get our refund because they didn't update their system. I, for one, think they should cut people checks for their refund since it was their stupid fault. Anyway, when we finally get that, I'm going to have to buy Microsoft Office. Blah. It's like super freakin' expensive. I tried asking my advisor at Penn College of Technology if they somehow gave students a discounted version, but he never got back to me. Worst. Advisor. Ever. So thankful I'm done after this semester.

Mohs Surgery Recovery: Days 4, 5, and 6

Well, I'm back to work! Monday, I had some people wondering if it was ok for me to be working. I was still pretty puffy and yellow around the eyes and I actually had quite a bad headache, but I made it. Each day I look more normal, or so my boss says. I discovered last night, however, that I can't make my usual faces. I think I'm making them, but my eyebrows don't move. I can raise them a little, but I can't do my pensive, brooding look. This is me trying:

They had a Safety Pot-Luck Healthy luncheon today and when I went down to get some fruit, some of the MIS (computer) guys gave me weird looks. Do you know how frustrating it is not to be able to make faces back?! I can't make faces at Chris anymore when he says something stupid, either! I end up just closing my eyes a bit and staring at him; does not have the effect I'm looking for.

My stitches are very itchy. I'm also down to my last two band-aids, but down to $.03 in the bank account. We really need to stop spending money on eating out.