Another hole in the head and randomocity

I think I mentioned a while back that I had this horrid mole on my scalp.

In case you missed it, remember that episode of Angel where these demons were implanting their larva into people, causing them to grow a third eye in the backs of their heads? It kind of looked like that, except I couldn't actually see through it. It caused the lady I get to shave my head to freak out.

So, I decided to go to a dermatologist to get it removed. Which they did, after telling me that it didn't look like a mole. Of course, they sent it off to have it biopsied and it came back as basal cell carcinoma.

I know a lot of people freak when they hear the "C" word. Fortunately for me I've spent years working in the health care industry so I was already pretty much aware of what BCC is so I was cool with it. Kind of.

Really, if you just have to pick a particular cancer diagnosis then that's the one you'd want. It's not all that aggressive and doesn't metasize like other cancers. It's slow growing.

So, I had to go back to the dermatologist to get what's called Moh's surgery, where they excise tissue from around where the carcinoma was, examine it under the microscope to see if they see any cancerous cells and if they do, they come back and take another, slightly larger section, until they get a section that is clear, or free of cancer.

Luckily for me they only had to take a couple of sections. Unfortunately they had to take enough tissue so make stitches necessary. The doctor said he had to go really deep, which means he probably got down near my skull.

I hate stitches. And, while they had numbed my scalp so that I didn't even feel it when the doctor removed a good-sized hunk of meat from it, I did feel it when he put that first stitch in. Yow! It wasn't so much that it hurt--though it did, a little---but the really odd feeling I got when it tightened the skin on my face slightly. Unpleasant. Extremely so.

But the carcinoma is all gone and I go back in a couple of weeks to get the stitches removed. I can't keep a bandage on them because they're in my hair--no way a bandage will stay there. If I'd been thinking I would have gotten my head shaved before the surgery. Anyways, I'm keeping the stitches soaked with antibacterial ointment, and drying them off when I step out of the shower, and so far no problems.

And I've ordered a couple of really stylish hats I'm going to start wearing. Fishing hats, I've always called them, though I've never owned one before. These are designed to protect from the sun, and since they have a brim that goes all the way around so it'll protect the skin on the back of my neck, too.

I guess the lesson from all this is: if you have a mole that is particularly ugly, or that bleeds and scabs over and then bleeds again, get to a dermatologist to have it looked at. And protect yourself from prolonged exposure to the sun.

So, I'm going to live. And, in a couple of weeks--though it seems like a hundred years--I'll have these damned stitches out of my scalp!

Sometimes you just need to dive right in . . .

I try to be one of those writers who meticulously plans, outlines, plots out, etc., a story before I start writing. I really do. And I admire those who work that way. It's got to be a lot less nerve-wracking to already have the road mapped out before you get into the car.

I've tried. Oh, lord have mercy, I tried. I can usually get about half-way before I just decide, to hell with it, and turn that key.

So, I started a screenplay for a movie version of my idea, Harvester of Faces.

And, so far, it's coming along surprisingly well. As I'm writing things occur to me, characters, story situations, and the like, as if my subconscious has already plotted out a lot of it before I even get started. Which may actually be the case--in my experience it usually works that way.

Will I manage to finish this thing? Who knows? So far I'm pretty happy with what I have. Hopefully, the momentum I've established will be enough to propel me all the way to the end.

For the record, though, I did sit down and plot some things up. A lot of the back story had to be sorted out so I could have the motivations for all of the characters. That really helped, too. Stuff that I thought was superfluous but would be nice to have is now essential. I thought I was going to need to eliminate on of the central characters but it turns out that she's essential to the story, which is good, as she's the reason I'm writing this in the first place.

Anyway, so far, so good. I got bogged down on this thing when I tried it as a novel. Hopefully, as a screenplay, it'll lose enough fat to be more manageable.

As I say so often, we'll see.