Dear CocoBu,

Hope you are keeping ok. When are you due for your surgery? I also have a BCC in the same location. I am having it removed under local anaesthetic and plastic surgery to reconstruct on the same day. am scheduled for September. I’m extremely nervous about it especially being awake- I am particularly bad with anything to do with the eye.  Hope the surgeon is kind  I am trying to stay positive but worried how close to my tear duct it will be - my husband tells me to stop googling. Would be good to keep in touch with how you are going. Sending best wishes. 

Hi Iloveveggies.  Thank you for your reply.  I love veggies too as I’m vegan. Anyway, I had my surgery last Monday so it’s now a week later. It was under general anaesthetic as it was right in the corner of my  inner eye in an area called medial canthus.  I’m due to go back next Wednesday to find out if all the cancer was removed or whether I’ll need further surgery.  The operation went smoothly but I’m not so happy with the skin graft as the cut was made in the middle of the area above the crease of my eyelid.  I thought the scar would end up being in the crease so that over time it would be less visible but this is not the case.  It might be worth checking where your scar will be as I didn’t bother asking and took it for granted it would be in the crease.  Maybe if I would have asked it would have been different.  It might also be worth asking if your surgery could be done under a general anaesthetic if you say you are extremely anxious and are worried that you may not keep still.  My surgeon decided it would be a GA as the cancer was in such a fiddly area and it would be very uncomfortable for me if I was awake.  It’s definitely worth asking.  You could even get your local PALS service involved as they seem to have a lot of power.  They are the patient liaison service and are in all NHS hospitals. It’s also worth contacting Admissions to see if they can be more specific about the date of your surgery.  I was lucky and had all my appointments within a week or two of each other, from consultation to biopsy, results and surgery date. Waiting is very worrying too and although the thought of surgery was scary, it was good to know the exact date. 

The bruising and swelling is less than I expected and although it’s very obvious it’s not all black and blue.  I had a padding on my eye when I woke up which I had to keep on until the next day.  When I took it off I was pleasantly surprised as the bruising is minimal and I could fully open my eye. I haven’t had any pain since the operation and overall am happy (as long as my results are good i.e. the cancer is gone).

I hope your surgery goes well and that you can persuade your surgeon to give you a general anaesthetic and also that you soon get a surgery date.

All the very best and definitely keep in touch to see how we recover.

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