Some people are really private about their medical stuff, but I'm not; I don't really care who knows stuff.  Of course, my situation isn't precarious, or embarrassing...  If it was, I'm sure I'd be as hush-hush as anyone else...

Anyway, yesterday I went in for an update with Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.  My aneurysm surgeries were a year and 4 months ago.  The horrible radiation burn scar on my abdomen is what prompted me to go in (it's been bothering me a lot), but it was time for a check anyway.  I had a chest X-ray, as I'm prone to lung cancer because of the radiation and they wanted to make sure I was fine, then I saw the neurosurgeon (who is the bee's knees, as far as I'm concerned) who spent a good 20 min. with me discussing anything and everything I wanted to discuss.  It was great - I got a lot of questions answered and he was very interested in my scar, as the procedures he did were unprecedented and he is really interested in my case.  (He said a couple of times, "Your case was very difficult.  Very, very difficult.")  I then saw the dermatologist, another bee's knees kind of guy.  (I loooooove my Mayo doctors - who could be more caring and gentle then these guys??)

The dermatologist obviously has seen more than a few bad skin things, but I could tell he was trying not to react when he saw my scar.  After all, it is bad... It's about the size of the palm of my hand,  has a rainbow of colors to it, swirly designs, polka dots, and is almost perfectly in the shape of a square!  He, the Mayo Clinic Specialist, had to admit he wasn't sure what to do about it.  It was adhering down to the tissue under it, sort of stuck to my ribs, and because it is so large, simple scar mobilizations won't do the trick (I tried already...).  So, as previous, a train of Dermatologists and I'm sure, Dermatology Interns and students, paraded in and out of my room, examining my anomalies (and enjoying comparing the scar on my abdomen to the healed ones on my low back and right waistline - well, where my waistline would be if I HAD a waistline...).  They all, as previous, stood in the hallway afterward in a huddle to discuss my care.  LOL  (So cute.)

In the end, all the doc did was give me a high-powered steroid cream to try and thin the skin (though certain areas on the scar often tear, as the "skin" is so thin and delicate).  He talked of injecting some of the same into the scar directly, but not yet.  He referred me to Plastic Surgery to see if they could do anything, like cut the scar completely out (YIKES!) and do a skin graft.  I have another appt. in mid-April. 

So we'll see!!  But that's the update of what happened yesterday.

(You want to see a picture of it, don't you??  LOL)