My Bruiser

Warning: graphic photos contained below.

My dear husband, affectionately known as 'Dr. Parts' on the blogosphere, had a minor operation this week. An Excision, we could call it.

He's had this little lump on his right upper arm ever since I've known him, which is just over four years. When I first noticed it, he said that he'd had it for a while, but it didn't bother him, maybe a cyst, etc.

Lately though, it has bothered him. It's been sore & painful. So, he points it out to Dr. M. Dr. M says "Aha, that's a cyst. We'll remove it, next time."

Next time came around on Monday. I wanted to go with Dr. Parts to the appointment, just in case it was more painful than he thought, just in case it was uncomfortable to drive. But, my offer was refused. "Refused" is a term which here means "laughed off as if it were ridiculous for this particular woman to imply that this particular man might ever feel pain or discomfort or any other sissified notion."

He came home, still alive, but with a very big bandage. "Well, it wasn't a cyst."

"It wasn't?" I ask. "Well, what was it?"

It was a blood clot, something which couldn't be detected until Dr. M had his arm open. Dr. M thought it had reduced in size and almost tried to talk Parts out of having it removed. Parts held his ground. Dr. M removed it, noting that it was right next to the nerve-imagine that!-and that there was another one in the arm, but too deep for an Internal Medicine physician to remove. Also the remaining one was smaller. He speculates that the clot was a result of earlier trauma. Dr. M says "I've never seen something like this in a human before."

Which leads to another whole interesting set of questions, such as, "And just when did you practice veterinary medicine?"

So, Dr. Parts goes back to Dr. M next week to have the stitches removed. And yes, he will be asking questions about the implications of having such a large blood clot in his arm. It was as big as the end of a man's little finger. And how does this relate to diabetes? And does it put me at more risk? And activities I should avoid? Any further tests or meds we need to include in my regimin after this?

Here's the photo. This is three days after the excision.

Oh, and the med office sent a note saying "Excision is not a cancer." That's good news.