Warning: Not for sensitive viewers!

An early hospital start again this morning, getting there at 7.30 to settle in for The Waiting...with still no guarantee that my nose procedure and two mole removals would happen! Glad to say though that at 10 am I was ushered into the inner sanctums where I had to don the frequently -laundered backless gown a million sizes too big, over which went a stylish blue and white dressing gown, accessorized by paper booties and a turquoise paper hat. Serious stuff! Walking through several sets of double doors I had the distinct impression of being in a butcher's back room as three large men with white hats and coats and boots were hovering in doorways, their big hairy arms crossed over their chests as they waited for the next victim...er, patient. Finally got to the theatre...I guess I hadn't expected such a formal procedure as my last mole removal on St Helena happened in the emergency room seated in a chair with a couple of nurses hovering around the doctor. This was way different - the huge room with the single bed was filled with beeping machines and bright lights and serious looking staff all decked out in their sterile gowns. And all this with no pre-meds. Out came the permanent markers to circle the two moles needing removal, lots of swabbing with luminous pink antiseptic stuff...and then the first injection into my nose. I cried - not very spartan but it really hurt!! The long and short of it is that I had a basal cell melanoma cut out of my nose, and a piece of skin from my collarbone region grafted into the hole. It looks entirely awful especially as it's utterly naked, but it's a lot better than the doctor initially let me believe it would look. I still have two nostrils in the correct places and am not a Michael Jackson lookalike. Thank the Lord for that mercy! After about an hour of torture I was transported to the recovery room in a wheelchair...my first w/chair ride and it was a humbling experience. Had a cup of tea and a few sandwiches, got dressed, and then Nick arrived to take me home. I hadn't seen what I looked like and assumed they'd cleaned me up okay, so confidently walked out the hospital with my beloved, nodding to other people as one does and smiling as best I could with only a bottom lip being mobile. How embarrassing to look in a mirror and see the bright pink stains all over my neck and the mess around my nose. Got into bed with painkillers and pretty much stayed put the rest of the day. But it's over - in God's timing!