Clear margins

Clear margins. The growth was a carcinoma, but there is no sign that it had spread. No medications nor radiation. I'm to go back in three months for further "all over" visual inspection, then twice a year after that. I guess forever. I had the stitches out last Monday, and the incision is nearly healed -- still itches a bit. I've been swimming again since Thursday. That, I had really missed. I guess I'm the King of Denial, but I never imagined that I'd have to deal with cancer, even a minor one like this skin cancer. I do recognize my own mortality. I don't think I'm afraid of death. Pain, on the other hand scares the hell out of me.