Enoch's Mole

Enoch has always been very freckly, but lately a few moles have developed that we were a bit concerned about.  One was on his ear lobe, the other on his neck.
We took him to a dermatologist who, after looking at both moles, decided the one on his neck was fine for awhile, but the one on his ear lobe needed to come off.  She shaved off the top of it, stuck a band-aid on and said she would call with the biopsy results. I was hoping that was the end of it.
About a week later, we got a call saying the biopsy had come back suspicious and atypical.  The mole had to go.
Because of where it was located, Dr. Petitt didn't feel comfortable removing it so she referred us to a plastic surgeon.  After meeting with Dr. Jensen, we scheduled a surgery time and waited another week.
Enoch was on the schedule for 12:30.  We got a call about 11:30, saying that he was running behind and they pushed Enoch off until 3:45.  It was fine, just more waiting for Enoch.  We dropped Kate and Guard off at Grandma's and Grandpa's and Enoch and I were off to the office.  And then more waiting. And more waiting.  And more waiting.
We waited for over an hour.  Luckily, when we first got there, they put some numbing cream on Enoch's ear, so that had a lot of time to work.  But the waiting was hard for Enoch (and me).

Finally, Dr. Jensen came in and was ready to start.  Enoch bolted!  By the time I caught up with him, he was in the hall.  I had to literally drag him back to the chair.  He was really worked up by now and nothing was calming him down.  Dr. Jensen gave me a few minutes to soothe him, but said if he couldn't calm down, we would have to schedule the OR and put him out.  I explained to Enoch that getting a tiny shot in his ear lobe was a lot easier than getting an IV, especially now that his ear was numb.  We counted back from ten a few times, said a prayer and took a couple of deep breaths together.  It seemed to work.  He was still nervous, but held still for the shot.  He looked at his ear after in the mirror and said, "My ear lobe is inflated!  It's so much bigger than the other one!"  Not a lot bigger, but a bit.

The actual surgery took less than three minutes.  Luckily, Dr. Jensen worked very fast.  I kept Enoch talking about Mind Craft and it was over before he knew it.

Now, he has three cool stitches until next Tuesday!  He did great!  He powered through his fear and did a great job during surgery, held very still and didn't let himself get to worked up.  So proud of him!

We celebrated the end of surgery at Cold Stone.  Enoch got watermelon grape ice cream with raspberries mixed in.  It actually wasn't too bad.

Awesome job, Enoch!  We are so proud of you!