Bob Be Gone!!

In the end, it was a clean break-up.

(Warning--there are pics at the end of this post, and they're not over-the-top horrible, and they're not from today, but if you don't like weird growths and a little bit of blood, well, don't look.)

The doctor walked into the exam room, asked what was going on, and about three sentences into my explanation, said, "Oh, it's a granulosis." I hadn't even take the bandage off yet. When I did, she nodded and said, "Yep. Granulosis." Even the nurse was nodding and saying, "That's what I thought!"

These people are gooood.

So, two minutes after she walked into the room, the doctor was preparing to jab me with a couple of needles full of local (ow!!). Once those started doing their thing, my thumb swelled up to about twice its normal size. As we chatted, she nonchalantly razored Bob right off of me. I looked down for a second and when I looked up again, she was handing the red, bulbous part of my granulosis to the nurse. That was a bit disconcerting, but I wasn't too heartbroken, trust.

Next, the doctor cauterized the wound, which, yes, smelled horrid and isn't something I was keen on watching. Once finished, she left me in the nurse's capable hands for bandaging. She gave me some instructions and off I went, to pay for my small procedure, and then head off to the gym.

Once at the gym, I found a bit of blood seeping out from under the bandage (a simple band-aid). I carefully put my gym clothes on, scooped my hair into a messy ponytail (do you know how hard it is to gather your hair into a ponytail with a thumb that can't feel anything?), and headed out to a bike. I hate missing a good workout, but I wasn't about to do anything that might injure my thumb while it was still numb, so no weights, no floor exercises, etc. Just the bike.

After thirty minutes, I noticed it was still seeping blood, so as I left the gym, I called the doctor's office. They suggested I come back just to check, because they would be closing for the weekend in a couple of hours. I felt better doing this, so back I went, where the doctor did some "scraping" (just the thought makes me feel a little ill) and more cauterizing. This time I saw a little of that action--a tiny flame hitting my skin, people. I managed to not throw up, opting instead to mutter, "Oh, weird..." as the doctor and nurse chuckled. You haven't lived 'til you've willingly sat and watched someone give you a second-degree burn.

This time, there was less blood. The nurse gave me a pressure bandage, which I'm to keep on until tomorrow morning. No getting it wet, so when I showered tonight, I wrapped my thumb in a plastic baggie, and didn't take my time washing. Now I'm happily sitting around in my pajamas, with two cups of tea and a semi-unhealthy dinner in my stomach. The numbness is wearing off and my thumb is tingling. I can tell that later, there will be some pain--nothing earth-shattering, as the burn is only a tiny little thing across the crater where Bob used to perch, but enough to warrant some before-bed Ibuprofen.

Now I give it a few days to heal. I've got a burn ointment to start using tomorrow. I'll keep it very clean and watch like a hawk for any sign that infection might be on the way. Hopefully everything will progress smoothly, and my benign, not-serious granulosis will not come back (that's why she burned all the little blood vessels around it, to keep it from just re-growing...gah, when did my life become science fiction?).

I'm just glad the large, unsightly blob is gone. It was impossible to do simple things like wash my hair with that thing--my hair would get caught in it and that wasn't so comfortable. Keeping it wrapped meant feeling awkward when playing the piano, and letting the left thumb hang down off the keyboard when typing (which I'm still doing because it hurts tonight). The crazy bleeding, the discomfort...I'm so glad that I can start moving on from all that.

So...goodbye Bob. I don't miss you. I celebrated our break-up with some ice cream tonight, and I hope you are rotting peacefully in that bio-waste can in the doctor's office. Don't come back.

No more crazy bleeding!!

A couple of days ago--you can see where I now have
a small crater. Lovely. It'll heal, though.

Bob didn't need a tremendous amount of encouragement
to go.

Yep. Impressive.