At least a year ago, my wife noticed a growth on my back. I showed it to my skin doctor during my annual check-up; she noted its size in her notes but nothing more was done. In August, I had this year's check-up and again the doctor measured the size of this growth. As it had grown by at least 25%, she gave me a referral to the plastic surgeon who removes these growths.
When eventually I saw the surgeon (appointments tend to be two months in advance), he wasn't too sure exactly at what he was looking so sent me off for an ultrasound scan. I had this a few days later but again I had to wait five weeks to see the surgeon again. Fortunately, removing the growth is not urgent. The ultrasound report said that the growth was a sebaceous cyst; such growths can be ignored as long as they don't become infected. Although this growth appeared not to be infected, it was still growing and so the surgeon indicated that I should have it removed as soon as possible. It seems that the surgeon can't be bothered with benign growths (although he does remove BCCs) and sent me off to someone else to have it removed. Fortunately, I was able to make an appointment for excision within a few days.
I had the growth removed yesterday. As I always say after such minor procedures, it's easier than going to the dentist. Normally there are no side effects of these procedures (save having stitches removed after ten days), but yesterday I was told to lie down for at least two hours in order to help the hole in my back to heal. After those two hours, I felt very weak and went to bed for a few more hours' sleep (I hadn't slept well overnight due to a stomach ache).
I was allowed to remove the bandage that same evening; sleeping wasn't too comfortable and I am aware of a pain in my back if I stretch or something knocks into my back. Here's a picture of my back for all horror aficionados (fortunately, I can't see this myself).
I've been having problems in walking the past week and a half: pains appear in my shins after a kilometre. My wife told me of a shop which sells 'healthy shoes and accessories', so we went there to see whether the problem was my shoes (now two years old), my shins or both. Unfortunately, because of the Chanuka holiday, the shop closed early at 4pm, so I had to wait until Wednesday before I could get there before closing time. The salesman looked at my shoes and how I walked: he suggested that first I buy a new pair of walking shoes (450 NIS as opposed to the 600 which I paid two years ago) and see how I go. The previous shoes were good and gave more support as opposed to absorbing shocks; the new shoes are lighter, offer less support but more shock absorbtion. As a result, I walked 5.1 km that evening in 46:39 minutes, burning 405 KCal (good).
I wasn't able to walk either on Thursday night (came home very late from work and didn't feel well) nor yesterday (operation in the morning; went out for dinner to celebrate wife's birthday) although I hope to be able to walk tonight. As a result of this lack of physical exercise, my weight increased slightly from 78.1 to 78.4 kg. I very much want to get it below 78kg but haven't been able to.
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