Matous Steve Facs

Within minutes of finding out that I had a very aggressive melanoma growing on my heel my Podiatrist my destiny was set to cross paths with Dr. Matous. The Podiatrist called the Oncology group and they set me up with him before the sun set that very day. This long and winding road to rid myself of cancer was beginning whether I wanted it to or not.
My first visit to Mr. Matous was eye opening, he was confident and friendly, we wears a bow-​tie and has a good sense of humor and knew exactly what he needed to do. He was a little vague on recovering which would become a theme but I wouldn’t get it until later. For now it was a little annoying that I couldn’t get a timeline. We started down the road of trying to get a date for the surgery which luckily would be only a one day affair. They warned me that an opening could come fast and to be prepared. They weren’t kidding.
I was at work in the early afternoon and I got a call to be at the hospital the next day at 11:00am for a afternoon surgery. While it is not a lot of warning, it does mean I don’t have to sit and think about it too much. I scrambled that afternoon covering some shifts and got my leave of absence handled before I walked out the door at work into the unknown.
I lay there in the hospital as nurses and technicians flew in and out of my cubical, I endured imaging and eventually it was time for Dr. Matous to come talk to me. He was thrilled with imaging said everything looked okay and he would see me in the operating room, which he did. They rolled me into a room that looks like something out of the Borg ship from Star Trek TNG and Dr. Matous came in decked out in his greens, I mentioned he should put his bow-​tie on so people knew who he was with the mask on.
After the surgery I had several visits with him to change bandages but still could not get an answer about healing the wound. He and his nurse were great explaining what was happening and making sure I had pain meds. It was about the fourth visit that they basically just told me that I didn’t need to come back and good luck. I was feeling a little like Gilligan or Tom Hanks in Castaway, sort of set adrift. Oncology got me a case worker who started getting me on the road to healing and reminded me that surgeons cut, they don’t heal. Also, in the last few appointments I had his head nurse broke her arm, so things were off kilter in his office. Keeping this in mind, if my melanoma ever pops up again guess who is doing my cutting.