It is currently 10:30am and I'm in a hotel room in Tokyo
and I'm about to go to the doctors to get a piece of my skin removed from my chest here
and have it biopsied for skin cancer.
God, this all started like 2 years ago now
I have this weird, bumpy patch on my skin that just wouldn't go away
and it just didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before,
it didn't really look like a mole and it started to get bigger so it was starting to worry me
because I have vitiligo, which is a skin condition that makes the pigment in my skin disappear
and that makes me more susceptible to skin cancer.
So, I do try to check my body regularly for things that look a little off so that I can get them checked at the doctor
So, I left it for the longest time, and finally, when I was back in Canada this last summer,
I decided to go into the doctor and get them to look at it and the guy just looked at it for like one second
and was like, uh, it's just a blemish or something, it's fine, and I told him I'm kind of worried because it's been there
for a couple of years now and it's changing and it just doesn't look like, you know, your regular kind of mole or anything
so I'm worried about it
but,
he told me it's fine and there's no need to do a biopsy on it.
I was kind of frustrated with that because I would rather be safe than sorry and I just wanted them to cut it out
and send it to the lab and check it for cancer
but he refused to do that, unfortunately.
So, I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago for work and I decided I would get it checked here in Japan
and just get a second opinion.
So, I want into a skin clinic here called Noage.
I looked up some reviews online for places that do skin cancer checks and this is one of the places that came up
and I decided to go in there and the woman looked at it and first she just looked at it with her eyes
and said, oh, it looks like it might just be a wart or something, I wouldn't worry about it
let me check it with the light.
She had a special kind of light that she can hold up to it and see underneath the skin
to see what's going on underneath
and when she looked at it with the light, she said, oh, there is like an increase in
trying to translate this into English what she said, I guess blood vessels/veins
going towards it, which can be a sign of cancer.
So, she kind of felt like it was be 50/50, could be a wart, could be skin cancer, and it would definitely
be better to cut it out and send it for a biopsy.
So, here we are today
I will be leaving the hotel in about 20 minutes and I'll go get it cut out
and then they will go send it into the lab and check it, and I guess I won't get my results for at least another week, I'm assuming
But, I guess it depends on how busy the lab is or whatever.
But anyways, wish me luck, I think they're just going to freeze this area and cut it out; it's not a big surgery
I'm not too worried, honestly, I'm just relieved they're going to biopsy it because I was so frustrated with the guy in Canada
who refused to do it.
So, wish me luck, and I will be back here afterwords to let you guys know how it went
It is now 12:56pm and I'm back at the hotel, the surgery is finished
I got there half an hour before my appointment but they actually brought me straight into the room, it was great
and they had me change into a robe and wait for the doctor to show up
and she was there within a couple of minutes
I layed down on the chair, she injected probably about 5 times to numb this area with some anesthetic
and then she cut it out
It honestly didn't hurt at all, she warned me that the needles for the anesthetic might hurt a little
but, it was like nothing
The grossest part was probably feeling her cut the skin because, even though you don't feel it, you can kind of
feel like the tension of her pulling and hearing the cutting, that was just disguting
But, it was all over in like, 5 minutes
and then she stitched it up, put a little bandaid thing on it, and told me to come back in a week to get the stitches out
Unfortunately, she said it's going to take up to 2 weeks to get the results from the lab, which is really the whole point of this
So, now comes the shitty part where I have to be nervous about the results for 2 weeks.
Hopefully it won't take that long, but, she thought that it probably would, so, I guess that I will come back later on and update you guys with my results
For now, I'm going to eat this lunch because I am starving
I popped into the conbini because I couldn't be bothered to find a cafe or anything at the moment and I just got some inari
Sushi
and a vegetable juice.
I'm just going to eat this
Anyways, um, yeah, I'll update you guys when I get my results, see you later!
So, it's a week later, I'm back at the clinic and they're going to remove my stitches now
As you can see by the weird bandaid outline around it, I am allergic to all bandaids that I've tried
I think it's the adhesive (glue) on them
I had the same problems with my tattoos, I'm just allergic to the glue
So, honestly, that was the most uncomfortable part the whole process
the scar itself looks like it's healing nicely
Stitches are out, it was really quick and painless
She put some anti-itch medication on me for my bandaid allergy
so that's wonderful because that has been super itchy all week.
She said that the scar looks good and should heal nicely
They told me that I have to come back in two weeks from now, so it's already been a week
and now I have to wait another two weeks for the results because they want to be able to hand me the paper
the actual lab results and they said that will arrive in two weeks, so, unfortunately, I need to wait another two weeks to hear if its cancer or not
so yay, that will be fun
So, I went to the desk to pay and it was 7,400円(yen) or something
and then the lady was like, oh wait a minute, I made a mistake, and I was thinking, oh yeah, I figured because that's really expensive to get stitches removed
So she said, please sit down and I'll check with the doctor and see if that's the right price
and she calls me back up, and she says its actually 8,500円(yen), so it was more, I can't believe that it cost that much
just to get three little stitches removed, it literally took like 5 seconds and then she swabbed it with some itch cream
and it was $85; this clinic is really expensive
but, it did have decent ratings from people that came in for cancer checks, so I figured I should come here
Anyways, I think it's really important to get this kind of thing checked so I don't mind spending money on it
Hey guys, it is June 23rd today, that means that I only have three more days to go back and see the doctor
and get the results of my biopsy.
I'm not going to lie, it's been kind of stressful waiting this long and worrying about the results
So, I'm looking forward to that, but, I just got a call that I have a package up in Morioka that they're trying to deliver to me
and they couldn't fit it inside my post box, my storage post box thing outside my apartment, so I have to go up there and accept it in person
But that's okay, because what's inside of this package is supposed to be stress relieving and I could definitely go for some stress relief right about now
So, let's go up to Morioka, get the package, and I can have fun opening it with you guys
So, I am back in Morioka, and my friend Mark is over visiting because I wanted to brag and show off my awsesome cat robot
I want it so much
So, this is what I was talking about, this is the special delivery that I got, that I came back to Morioka for
It's a cat butt
I was in loft the first time I saw this, like a Japanese kind of variety store
they got a bit of everything
they've got some really nice products
and I saw this cat butt robot and I was playing with it
and I thought it was so cute and then the creator of this robot came to one of our Tokyo Creative events
and asked me if I wanted one
and I was like, uh, yeah!
So, they sent it to me, they let me choose between two colours and obviously I went with the gray one
It looks like theres a dead, squished cat in the box
It feels really nice though
Oh, it's so soft
Do we have to charge it?
Let's see the instructions
Here, you hold
Don't smell it
I'm not smelling
What are you?
I'm laughing
Power switch is located adjacent, oh!
Oh my god, it's so cute!
The movement of the tail is just like a real cat
Sometimes it'll wag its tail by itself, without you touching it
just like a real cat would if it was sitting on your sofa, right?
But then when you pet it, it'll wag it a lot
It's so cute!!!
It's really wagging now
It sheds like a real cat too
*laughing*
Oh my god!!!
*more laughing*
It's so cool, if you rub like like really slowly, the tail goes really slow
You're hitting it
*laughing*
It's so much fun
Normally when you buy those cat robots
you know, the ones that are made for kids, like the little, plushy robots
they don't move realistically, or anything, but this is super realistic
and the way it responds to your touch is so cool.
I actually think they ship these overseas
I was looking because I didn't want to show it to you guys and then make you want it if you couldn't buy it overseas
and I'm pretty sure they do international shipping.
Check out the link in the description box, but, I think I'm right about that
Calm down, calm down
It's okay
I think this would be a really good present for like a grandma or a grandpa that was living by themselves
don't you think? To keep them company but they wouldn't need to feed it or to have the responsibility of taking care of it
or someone who's in a hospital
This is such a cool invention, I hope they make a dog one and different animal ones, wouldn't that be cool?
I want a pug
A pug?
What does a pug tail look like? Isn't it just like a little thing?
It would just kind of like shake
Hey guys, so it's finally the 26th, I am back in Tokyo
and I'm just about to head off to the doctors and get my results
This has been the longest three weeks of my life
I'm really excited to just get this over with
Fingers crossed that it's good news, so wish me luck
and I'll be back very soon to let you know how it went.
I am back from the doctor; that was slightly terrifying
So, she came out with these forms, my results of the lab test and the only part that's in English is this line that says
Basal pigmentation with perivascular inflamatory cell infiltration of the skin
and that just sounded terrifying to me
That's the only part that I caught a glimpse of when she came out with the sheet, and I was like, shit
But, apparently it's not cancer, right away, she said
it's not cancerous, so that's really cool
that was my main concern, obviously.
So, that was an instant relief when she said that.
But, she said she doesn't actually know what's wrong with my skin
She said that it's kind of behaving weirdly
But she couldn't put her finger on what could be causing it or if it's some sort of auto-immune disorder or something
But anyways, I'm super relieved that it's not cancerous and I don't really care about the appearance of it, it's fine
They've cut it out now, I don't really know if it's anywhere else in my body that I haven't noticed, but
it's really not a big deal, so cool, I am going to go celebrate
Honestly, this month has just been shit
everything has just been going to shit this month
and worrying about my health on top of it all
has just been a lot to deal with
But, getting really positive results from the doctor has just kind of made me not really care about all the other problems I have
at the moment, and I'm just really happy and positive about my situation now, so
phew
If you do have something on your skin that you're worried about, please do get it checked because
if it is skin cancer, it's important that it's found early so that it can be treated
I'll put the information of the clinic I went to down below
They did speak an impressive amount of English, so if your Japanese isn't that great and you would fee more
comfortable with an English speaking clinic, I can recommend them
I do think they were on the pricey side, I think because of the location, their in the Roppongi district
which is kind of known for being expensive and thank you so much for watching
and I will see you guys soon with hopefully a more fun and upbeat video
Bye guys!