Times When I Felt Silly, Oh So Silly

Have you ever been annoyed by a sock that keeps slipping into your shoe?

The thing that happens when the elastic has given way and it sneaks down onto your heel? And then you yank it up and it slips down again?

I remember something like it happening way back in sixth grade. I wanted to look good for the boys. I was running down the street. One red knee sock kept slipping down, pooling around my ankle. Each time I pulled it up, it slithered down again. I was afraid that everyone was looking.

The pesky post-Mohs bandaid

It’s kind of like that when a Band-Aid won’t stay on after a Mohs surgery. You stick it back on. It keeps falling off. You just want it to stay where it belongs, but it won’t behave.

My most recent Mohs, for a squamous cell carcinoma on my temple, was like this. The stitches ran right up to my hairline. To keep them covered, I needed to cut a small piece of non-adhesive gauze and apply it to the spot. Then I needed to adhere it with small pieces of tape. The end pieces touched my hairline. They were never firmly on, so they kept popping up. I pressed them down, they popped up, and so on and so forth, like those pesky socks not staying in place.

Another Mohs, for a squamous cell on my lip, proved equally annoying. The skin cancer was perched on the bow of my lip. The Band-Aid was at an odd angle. It wouldn’t stay on for very long. Every time I ate, and often when I spoke, it loosened up. Needless to say, I was happy the day it came off.

Everyone is staring. Or are they?

Being self-conscious in these kinds of situations makes you feel like everyone is staring at you. Chances are, however, that they might not even notice. And if people do notice, they probably don’t care.

Recently I had cryosurgery on the top of my nose. A blister formed on top of it. To me, it seemed as big as Toronto’s SkyDome. I should have left it alone. Instead, I popped it. That left a big red sore. I had to put a Band-Aid on it so I would leave it alone. It wasn’t annoying like a Band-Aid that slipped. But it was embarrassing in its location right smack dab in the middle of my face.

I went with a friend to visit a chocolate factory. We took a selfie. I erased it. The only way I would pose for a photo was with a chocolate mold covering the front of my face.