Library Notes
September 5, 2003
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
Several years ago, I started to grow this little ole knot or lump on my arm, not far from my wrist. Over the years it has continued to grow. It did not hurt. It was just a squishy lump, but I got tired of it. I finally asked my Doc Smith if he could take it off. He said sure, but it would leave a scar. I said I didn't care; just wanted it gone.
So, we scheduled me to come in at the end of the day the next week. He said it would take about 30 minutes.
I showed up at 4:30 PM on that appointed day and he showed up at 4:30 PM too. He walked into the room and said "Now, what am I supposed to cut off?" To which I replied "Well, I sure better watch you; you'll be cutting off the wrong thing!", and then hastened to remind him of the lump/knot, as I waved my arm at him.
I watched him til he brought out the big ole needle, at which time I decided I did not want to see. He eased that needle in very slowly and I hardly felt it. And he said to his nurse, in surprise, "She didn't even jump!" I did not think to inform him that he was working on a tough Jones girl.
Doc said, as he slid that needle in, "Now, if I can just get this needle in without hitting that big vein right there." Well, he missed it. BUT he did not miss the one on the other side that was smaller and he could not see. I bled like the proverbial stuck hog. He mopped and swiped and applied some pressure on it and it finally got tired and stopped bleeding. Between that and my deadly weapon blood loss, I must be about a quart low by now.
He made some marks on my Betadine soaked , completely numbed skin and got out the carving knife. He cut around that bump/knot carefully and lifted that squishy sucker right out.
Then it was needle and thread time. I watched him gently pick the edge of that skin up with those little ole tweezers and line it up to sew. I asked about embroidery stitches, but only got straight stitches, about five of them.
Doc instructed me how to clean it and doctor it and slapped a band-aid on it, but gently, and said the stitches should come out in about nine days.
After we were all finished, with band-aid applied, Doc Smith routinely took my blood pressure. He said "Now watch me blow out all those veins I just cut!" But, they all held and we did not have to start mopping again. Thank goodness. At the rate I've been bleeding, anemia is going to be my next medical problem.
The squishy thing was, of course, sent off for biopsy. Doc Smith wrote me a letter a few days later, with the results. It was a fibrous tumor on a nerve. He said if someone has many of those tumors, they would have Von Recklinghausen's Disease. Von Who?? That was the disease that the Elephant Man had, if you remember the movie. Well, I'm sure glad I didn't have more of those tumors. I do not want to go charging through the jungle, trumpeting at the top of my lungs! First, I would have to find a jungle to charge through, get friendly with all the other elephants, and learn how to trumpet correctly, and I just don't have time for all of that.
Now that the minor surgery is over, back to the books. Let's go with Karen Robards today, a lady that is gaining in popularity, as she writes more and more books, mysteries, as you might expect. This newest one is "Beachcomber", and here's the lowdown on it.
"Christy Petrino had't planned on a vacation on Ocracoke Island, but when she learns her fiance and boss, suave Michael DePalma, is a "made man" and the Philadelphia law firm where she works is a front for the mob, she breaks her engagement and quits her job. But no one walks away from the DePalma family business so easily……Only if she delivers a locked briefcase to a motel on Ocracoke Island will she -- and her mother and sisters -- be free.
But after clandestinely making her drop-off late at night, Christy suspects she is being followed on the moonlit beach -- and unwittingly runs into a new kind of terror. Now a witness at the center of a homicide investigation, Christy learns the police are hunting a serial killer they refer to as the "Beachcomber" because beautiful young women -- women who in fact resemble her -- have disappeared recently while on vacation at nearby beach communities. Christy doesn't know whom to fear more -- a serial killer who believes she might be able to identify him, or the DePalma family, whose tentacles she can't seem to escape.
Only when she's with Luke Rand, her big surfer-dude next-door neighbor, does she feel safe. But with Luke's asking so many questions about her ex-fiance and his showing up almost too conveniently whenever danger strikes, she can't help but wonder if his interest in her is due to more than sexual attraction. Can she trust this handsome stranger to help her survive a hot and deadly summer?"