There's a lot riding on this today
because if Dr. Lee can't help me then
I might be in fear for my job.
And I'm worried that maybe the next time I do my physical it
might get bigger and then I might not be
able to pass my CDL physical.
If you would just follow me we're
going to head down to our consult room to meet Dr. Lee.
OK.
I brought a picture of my wife.
I know she's with me in my heart.
And I know she's looking down at me telling me,
you got this, Jim.
So I'm doing it for Lori and I'm also doing it for myself.
- Hello. - Hi.
How are you?
Good morning.
Are you Mr. Kress?
I am.
So what brings you here?
You want to start from the beginning?
I do.
I have a lump on the back of my neck here.
OK. I see that.
- You see that? - Yes.
And I got a bigger one here.
You just got a lot of lumps. Huh?
- I do. - OK.
So you have a bump on your neck.
First of all, how long have you had that?
About 17 years, maybe even longer.
How old is the one on your thigh?
About maybe seven years.
OK.
Because my wife and I used to watch you.
And she kept saying we need to write in
to see if she could help you.
And unfortunately she passed in February
so we wasn't able to do it so.
I brought a picture.
I don't know if you want to see it.
Of course I do.
I'm sorry.
Of course I do.
So it's really nice to know.
That was us in--
Oh.
We're in Estes Park and that was the last time
we were in Colorado so.
You both look so happy.
Was it rather sudden what happened?
It was.
Well, she was a smoker, of course.
But then they said she had the coronavirus.
OK.
So she went in Thursday.
Wednesday night, Thursday morning.
And she was gone the following Monday.
Oh my gosh.
That's how fast it was so yeah.
- I'm so sorry. - Oh.
Thank you.
So let's see if we can't help you
but I need to take a look first here.
OK?
It really breaks my heart what James has been
going through this last year.
He's such a sweetheart but really
we should remind ourselves that it's because of his wife
that he's here in the first place.
OK I'm going to take a feel of it if you don't mind.
OK?
So it feels like it moves around pretty well back and forth.
That makes me think this is probably a lipoma.
So I think there's a good chance that we can remove this
but let me see this little back one here.
OK.
The finale here.
I'm going to move it around.
Yeah.
This this feels like a lipoma.
And it's not surprising that this moves around a little bit
more stiffly because this is like probably some of
the thickest skin on our body.
Well I think that the good news is I don't see anything that
is really concerning to me.
I think that they definitely take away joy from you
certainly.
And I feel like you need some joy these days.
Yeah.
My self-esteem could probably go a lot higher
and my confidence for myself.
You know?
I truly hope that his wife is sending
extra support from above.
And I hope this all moves really smoothly me removing this area
on his leg and on his neck so that he can start
his new chapter in his life.
- Ready to come inside. - I am.
Come on over.
I do have a little bit of worries
about the whole procedure.
OK.
Let's take a look.
This is a big job for Dr. Lee and I just
hope that she don't get overwhelmed with my issues
that I have.
OK.
Let's see what you got under here.
Huh?
But you're going to feel it getting kind of tight.
Oh.
It is.
- You feeling OK? - Uh huh.
I'm going to use a tumescent technique, which
is when we dilute the anesthesia so we can
numb up more areas of the body.
The technique that I use in numbing also
reduces the incidence of bleeding
and that's really important because he's
got two areas here.
I'm going to tackle the one on his leg
first to really ensure that there's less bleeding there.
Because certainly if there's increase in bleeding,
there's increase in complications,
there's increase in risk.
Then I may not be able to proceed and tackle
his neck bump as well.
OK.
Make sure nothing ever hurts. OK?
OK.
I see the lipoma here.
It's a lipoma.
So I use my finger a little bit just because it's nice.
It's not sharp.
I trimmed my nails just for this.
It's actually pretty free on this side.
So I'm going to just give you squeeze.
OK.
You OK?
- Mhm. - OK.
I'll show them to you in just a second here.
You're doing awesome.
So it's making noises now.
It does remind you of chicken a lot, doesn't it?
My wife used to love chicken broth.
Chicken broth.
That's yummy.
Almost done.
Oh. Wow.
Oh. Geez.
A lot of bumps to them.
Nice and flat now.
Yeah.
Well that was an interesting looking lipoma.
It almost had little tentacles.
And sometimes those are a bear to remove because all
those little fingers are really stuck in there, almost
like vacuum sealed in there, and they're
really hard to pull out.
But his just popped right out.
How did you meet your wife?
We were a grocery store romance actually.
Yeah.
That's kind of cool.
I was a night stocker and she was up
in the where the registers was.
She would go home at like 11:00 and each one of us stockers
would always walk the ladies to their car.
And so I picked her and we just hit it off.
Oh.
That's lovely.
All right.
That looks pretty darn good.
Let me sit you up a little so you can see it.
I'm looking at my leg and there's no bump.
I'm just in shock because it's been there for so long.
And it's just like something's missing now.
So we got to get you all situated
again in the right position and we'll start working on the one
behind your neck here.
James' lipoma on his leg was just one good squeeze
and it was gone with the breeze.
You might think that the hard work is over but, actually,
the more difficult, more complicated,
case on the back of the neck over the spinal cord.
These areas tend to have very thick skin
and they tend to be tethered in a lot of fibrous tissue.
They're hard to get to.
OK.
So like I said, you shouldn't feel anything
other than us touching you.
I see the lipoma here.
It's crowning right now.
You OK?
I am.
OK.
I feel the little pockets this one has found its way into.
It's like it's found this space and it's
been trying to grow in this tight space for a while.
I don't know what's going on right here.
Let me see again.
I'm trying to keep this thing whole
and it's kind of not letting me.
It's telling me I think I need to.
If I took it out in a piece, like cut it in half,
I bet you then it'll be, like, it'll just slip out then.
I'm going to just move this in that pieces here.
I'm going to put it in pieces.
I'm going to cut his lipoma in half because it's going to let
me see what's going on underneath there
and it will probably ensure that I have a better
chance of removing this.
I'm sorry I couldn't keep this in one full piece.
It wouldn't let me.
That's part of it.
OK.
Closing it up now.
OK.
For this kind of bump it really wasn't that bad.
Maybe it's because James is so sweet
or maybe his wife is looking down upon us
just blessing this lipoma.
After all, she was a poppaholic.
You did awesome.
Like awesome.
Oh.
My gosh.
You got your neck back.
Look at that gorgeous neck profile.
Thank you so much. Oh.
Geez.
It looks really good.
It's been years that I've been able to feel my own neck
and be able to move my head all the way back
and move it to the right. Oh.
My word.
Well I could actually go to the barbershop
and not be embarrassed.
Oh.
Yeah.
The one that I had on my neck, I was kind of worried
about my job because you have to pass a physical every two years
and they measure your neck.
So now I won't have to worry about that anymore.
Before I leave, Dr. Lee, I hate to ask
you but can you sign my picture with me and my wife, please?
Oh. My gosh.
Of course.
Are you kidding?
I would love to give tribute to her.
I felt Laurie being with gave me the inspiration to be
able to go through all this.
I just put "to Laurie in heaven and to James.
Cheers."
Because you guys are having a beer.
- Thank you. - Oh.
I adore you.
OK?
Thank you.
Have a safe trip back. OK?
Thank you, Dr. Lee.
Thank you very much.
I really appreciate you.
This is a start of a new chapter for me with my lumps gone
and I'll be able to go into next year
with more confidence and more self-esteem for myself.