Going Home, But Not Necessarily Because I Want To

I think that you would have to go to Goodyear to get vulcanized but who knows... You got this easy. Let them do their work and just throw a tarp over it and get back in the truck.... Cancer is not as scary as it once was. The only problem I can see you having is not being able to bang your head against the wall for a little while.

What's that song... You are not as good as you once was but you are as good once as you have ever been..... Only it takes longer to heal.

Before you know it you will be back up in your seat annoying commuters all across this great country of ours.

Get well soon and get back to cranking out those miles.

Wishing and Praying the best for you . I really appreciate all your Trucking Wisdom and your wry Trucking sense of humor - Here's hoping you get back on the road again quick - but take all the time you need !

Hey Brett, your advice was almost prophetic:

One small recommendation - if they have to rework your eyebrow, tell them to elevate it a little bit so you will always look like you're intrigued. That can work in your favor,

They did elevate my eyebrow - they removed maybe a third of my left eyebrow and a considerable amount of tissue in that area of my forehead. They then had to stretch some of my eyelid upwards to close the open area where the tissue was removed. I don't think it gives the intended look of being intrigued though, since they had to really stretch some of the skin. It's more like I'm gonna be able to give you a really mean looking stink-eye If I am upset with you. Oh well, my daughter says I look like a really tough flat-bedder. I'm thinking it looks more scary than tough, but I'll just have to get used to my new look. One of my other daughters said, "that's a scary looking face lift you got there!"

Here's what I looked like when I first got home:

Here's the new look, after I removed the ice pack and bandages, and got a look see myself - pretty scary looking stuff!

Needless to say, I am ready to get moving again. If I could be doing something productive around here I would be content, but the doctor doesn't want me exerting myself. I've got a follow up visit tomorrow and then we'll see what's next. Of course as soon as he says I can exert myself again I'll be needing to get on the road. So much for catching up on some much needed work around my place.

Everything went well and they were able to get it all removed. With my fair skin, and history of sun exposure I need to stay vigilant in my approach to skin lesions. I guess I'll be a regular at the dermatologists office for a few years.

Thanks again to all of you for your concerns and prayers, and your kind remarks.

Looks like you tipped the doc a little extra to pin your eyelid open. You flatbedders will do darn near anything to get the load there, won't ya?!

But seriously, glad to hear everything went ok. Get well and back otr soon Old School.

Wow, that's a huge cut! Looks like they were thinking about removing your brain!

But man I'm glad to hear it went well. That's awesome.

And you were already our face of flatbedding with your picture of folding the tarp in the snow. Now you're really our face of flatbedding! You have to come up with an amazing story to tell people about how that happened, like my dad's friend "Pete 9 Fingers" whom my sister was told wouldn't stop sucking his thumb when he was a kid so it fell off.

I think maybe that scar was from the time you head butted Hulk Hogan to win that cage match back a few years ago, wasn't it? Yeah, that's it! Hulk went down hard, you won the belt, retired the champion like you said you always would, and now you're flatbedding just for the sheer joy of moving 80,000 pounds of steel.

Congrats on getting through that though man. I'm thrilled to hear it went well. That's terrifying. I don't care who you are. But at this point in life I think you've conquered about every challenge life could possibly throw at you so it's no surprise you'll cruise through this like a bump in the road.

You have to come up with an amazing story to tell people about how that happened

Brett, it is so funny that you said that - My wife and I were just discussing that very thing last night. We were saying how one day I will need a great story to tell my grand-kids why my face is slightly disfigured. Most of us have had some family member who was missing a finger or a toe and had a crazy story like "a crow bit it off" or something, and the kids just love to tell their friends about that relative! So, yeah that is on the agenda.

Glad it worked out well for you.

Fair-skinned/hair myself (blonde/blue-eyed).

Was having something (else) looked at by a dermatologist 10 years back. Didn't really go, except when I wanted a wart or something burnt off.

He noticed a spot on my arm he didn't like - took a biopsy - Stage II Melanoma. Got it all out - no chemo needed, nice scar to show for it (tell folks "stab wound in a bar fight, you should see the other guy").

But he also told me, had I waited another 6 months, my life expectancy would have been 2-3 years. I go 2X a year now - whether I want to or not.

Funny part it - I ALWAYS were at least a short-sleeved T-Shirt - and this was in a spot that was lily-white from being covered all the time.

Again - glad it worked out - looking forward to seeing you get rolling again.

Rick

Get well soon old school.

Brett, it is so funny that you said that - My wife and I were just discussing that very thing last night. We were saying how one day I will need a great story to tell my grand-kids why my face is slightly disfigured. Most of us have had some family member who was missing a finger or a toe and had a crazy story like "a crow bit it off" or something, and the kids just love to tell their friends about that relative! So, yeah that is on the agenda.

That's classic! Oh yeah, the grandkids will love it. And you seriously need to write a book of some sort. A book of many sorts, really. Philosophy, psychology, life in the business world, raising animals, living the travelling lifestyle, stories of the road, and a million things you haven't even mentioned I'm sure. A big book. Like for three months write down every story and lesson you can think of and by that point you'll have a book. Organize it into chapters and you're good to go. That would be an awesome read.