Day 14 - Fully Cooked!

I had my two-week appointment with my dermatologist this afternoon, and she said that I am fully cooked! I should stop the Efudex! I was surprised because I thought she had planned for another two weeks, so I asked her three different times if she was sure that I had had enough. I definitely didn't want to go this far and stop too soon to get the full benefit. But she said that on her scale of mild to severe reaction I was close to severe, so additional use would just add more pain for no gain.

What a relief! I didn't want to say it there, because I didn't want her to stop me too soon, but the burning had been getting tough to take the last couple of days. The worst times were actually in the 2-3 hours BEFORE it was time to apply the Edudex. The act of applying the Efudex had gotten painful because of the tender skin, and then it would burn for 10-15 minutes after the application. But then the moisture of the Efudex would have a soothing effect so that it wasn't too bad for the following 8 hours or so. But after about 8 hours the Efudex would be absorbed into the red skin leaving the skin burning and dry. So in those 2-4 hours before the next application, it was getting increasingly hard to take, especially in the raw skin above my mustache and on my temples. Today at work, my reading glasses were starting to hurt my nose, so I copied another Efudex blogger and put gauze between my nose and the glasses. It looked pretty stupid, but it worked. I also found that holding my fingers or hand gently against the skin gave some relief, so the entire time that I was waiting for my dermatologist appointment (which was two hours before the next application was due) I was moving my hands around to different areas of my face to relieve the burning.

Now I am just supposed to apply petroleum jelly over the area, so one of the first things I did when I got home was to smear Vaseline over the entire area. After about 20 minutes it felt SO MUCH better. Now I have the moisturizing without the burning! And the skin can start healing. Others have said that the days right after stopping the Efudex can be the worst, so I'm ready for it to get a little worse before it feels better, but I'm headed in the right direction. My next appointment is in 4 months.

So this is what I look like fully cooked. Unfortunately, this is what I will look like at my mother-in-law's viewing and funeral over the next couple of days. It seems somewhat disrespectful to look like this at such an event, but nothing can be done about it.

AK on left cheek and raw, painful area in nasal fold and above mustache