Wick (J Nicolson): Week 11, 3 November

I received my prognosis last week, following the recent op/biopsy.  The consultant phoned and said she was completely wrongfooted by the results.  She had not expected any cancerous cells to be present, yet there were.  But, she went on to say, it was a ‘melanoma in situ’, meaning that it was only present in the upper layers of the skin and had not spread.  While the prognosis is ‘excellent’, I’ll have two further appointments.  One will be for another op where a 5mm margin around the previous incision will be removed.  The second will be to see the consultant again in Inverness, when she’ll give me a complete inspection. 

While I hadn’t expected this, I can’t say I’m surprised.  In fact, I’ve been waiting about 50 years for skin changes to appear.  While I’m not one for sunbathing, for a few summers way back when I was a lifeguard, where being in the sun is part of the job.  That, and being very fair-skinned, meant it was just a waiting game. Still, having mortality suddenly slapped in your face is unsettling, and it took a few hours to regain balance.

Near sunset

The museum is closed for the winter now.  I continue to go in Mondays to edit photos and chart ganseys, but my Thursday morning is free.  I’ve decided to use the time to learn how to make oboe reeds.  The tools in the beginner’s kit I’d bought a few years ago are simple, but some are specialised.  There’s a special knife used to scrape the cane, and there was also a square of ‘fishskin’, which is used to seal the reed.  A doubled piece of cane is bound with thread to a metal piece called the staple, which fits into the end of the oboe.  This binding needs to be airtight.  However, there are substitutes for the blade and skin.  Some people use x-acto knives or knives with snap-off blades.  For the skin, cling film or plumber’s tape are sometimes substituted.  Nail varnish/polish is also used for this purpose.  As the book says, it doesn’t really matter how you get there, it’s the results that count. 

Backyard fungus

It’s not a difficult process, but needs to be done just so for the reed to work.  The first attempt was a total disaster.  One half of the cane was satisfactory after binding, but the other half split in two places.  The second and third attempts are better, and I’m working on them.  It will probably take many tries to achieve a reed that plays as it should.

With the gansey, it took three attempts to get the right number of stitches around the armhole.  Usually, I count the rows on one side and compare it to the number of stitches needed.  So, 80 rows and 64 stitches would give a rough ratio of three stitches to every four rows.  However, being mathematically challenged, my counting was off and it took two further tries.  When that was done, I sped off down the ski slope of the sleeve, and have nearly three inches completed.  The sleeves on the original are plain, and I am debating whether to add a pattern band above the elbow, if only to reduce the boredom of constant stockinette.