Nicole Tasker Woods

That’s right folks, it’s NH time! Aidan loves spending summer months in NH and this summer is bound to be epic.  Curtis & Natalie took a leap of faith and shipped their girls off to NH as well.  With Olivia & Sophia hanging around, Aidan is bound to have a blast.

Ryan & I are looking forward to a month of late night dinners at the bar, sleeping in and enjoying the absence of a little voice constantly yelling ‘mommy’ on repeat.  We will miss him, don’t get me wrong.  Just not right away.

Aidan came with me to get my stitches out of my lip. As the surgeon was removing stitches one by one, he was cheering me on saying, “It’s OK mommy, just a little more.” When they were finally out he said, “Now I can mooch you on the lips! Can I mooch you on the lips now?” I leaned down for the first mooch in a long time from the Big A.

I have had a mole above my lip all my life. Ever since I was little, I remembered having it. It stared out quite small, looked like a small brown freckle. As I got older, it grew bigger and more pronounced. However, I never really thought anything of it until about 2 years ago when I realized it started to encroach upon my lip line. If it grew this big, would it grow even bigger and take over my mouth?! I went to the dermatologist and they shaved it off. I thought that was the best solution at the time. The healing process was tough because I had a 1/4″ scar above my lip and I tried so hard to hide it with make-up. When the scar finally healed, it was a spot above my lip, the same 1/4″ in size and it was very pale. It never tanned at the same level of the rest of my face, but I was OK with that.

Fast forward to October 2016 and this spot has yielded the mole and it has grown back bigger than before. However, it no longer had its original brown color, so again, I was OK with that. However, what if it got bigger?!

I was faced with the same dilemma and decided to seek out a plastic surgeon to have it surgically removed by a professional. I found a doctor I really liked, who had a great reputation and specialized in reconstructive plastic surgery. She had an impressive history with fixing cleft pallets so I knew my lips were in good hands to say the least!

Friday, December 23 was the day of my procedure and it was more painful than I imagined. The numbing process was quite unpleasant and then I had to lay still for an hour while she cut a chunk of flesh out of my lip (which according to Ryan was HUGE) and then stitch me back up, matching my lip line. I’m happy to say that 3 days after the procedure, it looks really good. There is no trace of the mole. When I get the stitches removed in 2 days, the scar will be minimal.

I’m so glad I decided to go through with it.