I now wear a hat. 2-24-2022

For a few weeks, I had had this growth on my neck.  It was very painful, and I really needed Dean to cut it out.  He wouldn't, and kept telling me to go see a doctor about it.  My answer to that was to just ignore it.

We had just arrived home from Hawaii, and it was getting bigger, and starting to really bother me.  On Friday,  February 18, I googled it, and based on pictures on the internet, it was Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  We were able to get an appointment with our Dermatologist, Dr Hinckley (he's a good one!) for Thursday,  Feb 24.  He took one look at it and said "you got yourself a squamous cell carcinoma."  He was sure enough of it that he scheduled the MOHS surgery for the next Tuesday.

MOHS surgery is where they cut it out, biopsy it while you wait with the incision open, incase they need to remove more.   They continue this pattern until all margins are clear of cancer. When my biopsy came back, it confirmed it was cancer, and Dr Hinckley was able to get it all with the first try.  It hadn't spread to any of the nearby lymph nodes.

I got my stitches out on Monday, March 1.  Everything is healing up great.

....and now I will wear a hat when I go out in the sun.

Maybe you should too.

 

Last Day to play in Hawaii 2/15/22

 At the beach in Mauna Lani was fun to people watch.  Up to this point, all the beaches we have been too were pretty secluded.  This one was just what you would expect at a beach in Hawaii.  All the different beaches have been great.  I'm glad we got to see a variety of them.

We took a walk around the cove, and came to a little place that we had all to ourselves.  

The whales put on a great show for us.  My phone camera couldn't quite capture the awesomeness of watching the whales breech.

Looking back on Pu'uwa'awa'a Cone that we hiked yesterday.

 Before we left Hawaii, we had to get some shaved ice. Big Island Shaved Ice Co didn't disappoint!

We were supposed to swim with the Manta Rays this evening, but because of the rough tide, it got cancelled.  So we got to spend our las evening hanging out with Matt and Angie.  Great way to end an amazing trip! 

Hiking Pu'uwa'awa'a Cone and Mauna Kea Observatory Feb 14, 2022

 This may have been the coolest way anyone could spend Valentine's Day!

Hiking Pu'uwa'awa'a

That same evening Matt and Angie took us up to see the telescopes.  Didn't sound that great, but whatever.  As we started to drive up, there were clouds coming in, so I didn't think the sunset would be that great.  Boy, was I wrong!!!

Half the way up, the rangers make you stop and acclimate for 30 minutes.  We were going to be going just under 14,000 feet from sea level to get to the telescopes.  There are no words to describe the top!  Weirdly amazing!  It looked like something from a space movie!

...and the sunset from ABOVE the clouds!

It was a great Valentines Day!

Hawaii, Sunday, February 13, 2022

 We started out the day whale watching!  These guys knew just where to take us so we had several whales all coming out of the water at the same time.  It was hard to watch them all!  I could have done this all day!  So exciting to see the whales, yet super relaxing just sitting on the shore.  

Back to the black sand beach.

Matthew drove us down this crazy steep road, down to the beach.  

Look, a picture of all 4 of us!😁

Dean picked up a coconut, brought it home, and we snacked on it all week. 

Day 2 in Hawaii

Matt and Angie gave us their whole Saturday!  We saw so many amazing things, but mostly we enjoyed our time getting to know these guys!  Matt tried to teach Dean to be cool....yeah, we will keep working on that.

Dang, now Dean is cool, and I have to work on it!

Oh yeah, in the background is a black sand beach, which was amazing, and we get to come back and visit it again later in the week!

Matt and Angie showed us so many beautiful places.  We struggle trying to be normal in pictures!

Akaka Falls

 

Next up, the botanical gardens, and once again, awkward pictures.

We had lunch at a park in Hilo.  So bummed that this is the only picture of the 4 of us.

Pohoiki Beach.  

The 2018 Kilauea eruption created Hawaii's newest black sand beach. 

This is where the lava flow went over the road.

Fissure #8

This was eerie!  This fissure is still smoking!

Seeing where the lava came through the neighborhood, and wiped out everything in its path was so interesting!  (kind of weird standing on top of a smoking spatter cone) 

On to the lava tube.

Walking through where the lava had flowed was so cool!  There are lights inside to guide you through it.  

At dark, we hiked out to the lookout where you can actually see the lava flowing!

So amazing!   

We packed tons into the day!

Matt and Angie are amazing tour guides!