My visit to the dermatologist wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was diagnosed with actinic keratosis which my doctor assured me could be easily and effectively treated. This was good news because I was a little nervous that the rough skin on my face might be squamous cell carcinoma instead. Left untreated, actinic keratosis can actually turn into squamous cell carcinoma, which is probably why my regular doctor wanted to get me into the dermatologist's office in a hurry.
Treatment was fairly straightforward and involved no cutting. Basically the doctor wanted to destroy the skin lesions by freezing them. Technically this is called cryosurgery, but it felt more like accidentally getting freon on your skin while you were trying to top up your car's AC. The doctor took a pressurized canister of liquid nitrogen and carefully sprayed the skin lesions. "Don't freeze my eyeball," I told the doctor. "I still need these eyes."
The whole process took less than five minutes. The dermatologist wants to see me again in a month to makes sure the actinic keratosis has completely disappeared. He said there would probably be some redness, blistering and crusting in the weeks ahead but not to worry about it. On the off chance that the liquid nitrogen doesn't work, he said that there might be some curettage and excision involved on my next visit. This sounds suspiciously like going under the knife, so lets hope the liquid nitrogen works.
I wouldn't recommend spraying your face with liquid nitrogen. I've felt like I've walked into a hot frying pan for most of the day. A freezer burn is still a burn. The whole purpose of the treatment is to destroy the keratosis. Luckily our new social distancing rules will ensure that few people see me for the next several weeks.
We had a nice walk with Dawn this morning before I left for my doctor's appointment. The sky was overcast, but this kept the temperature down and Dawn was happy. I like overcast days. Everything photographs better without hard shadows. For photographers, an overcast day is like having a giant softbox in the sky.
I watched an interview with Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley after they arrived at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon. I noticed that the pair arrived in a Gulfstream corporate jet. Quite a change from the old days when astronauts used to fly their own Northrop T-38 fighters to the cape. I guess they won't be using the old Airstream Astrovans anymore either. These guys will make the final journey to Pad-39A in a Tesla Model-X.
When I handed my ID cards to the receptionist at the dermatologist's office this morning, she handed me back the ID cards belonging to another patient. I recognized immediately that the Medicare cards were wrong, but ended up putting the other guy's driver's license in my wallet. Jeez. I didn't even recognize my own picture. The error was quickly rectified but it made me wonder how the world works at all. We all make mistakes every day. I make many of them myself.
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