Burn Baby Burn

As many of you know first hand, or can imagine, part of growing up in California can mean lots and lots of sun exposure. Not only sunny days, but also sun burns. I have to admit, I have had more than my fair share of sunburns. Not only am I fair skinned, but quite honestly, I was plain dumb as a kid. In my defense, when I was growing up, skin cancer was just starting to become the buzz. Also, there were times when I would use sunscreen, but who knew you were supposed to reapply?

The worst sunburn I have ever had, I got on a beautiful, sunny, April Day, while on the ski slopes of So. Cal. I was in my early 20s and had no idea that I could get a burn from the sun's reflection off of the snow. My face ended up swelling to the point that I looked almost like I had Down's Syndrome! After the swelling had persisted for several days, I finally went the doctor and he told me I had second degree burns on my face!

Needless to say, I have not had a sunburn in about 15 years and to date, my children have NEVER had a sunburn. For me, that burn was a huge wake up call. My burn was so bad that when I walked out of that doctor's office I knew that I would have to pay attention to my skin for the rest of my life. For many years now, I have been hyper-vigilant in paying attention to my skin and my husband's with regard to moles and any random small changes in appearance. Well, some time in November or December, I noticed a new little spot, the size of a mole, had developed on my right temple. I waited to see if it would go away and it did not, so I made an appointment to see our local "it" dermatologist. In Alaska, when it comes to health care, there are only a handful of specialist type caregivers. The few we have are either top notch or ones you wouldn't send your worst enemy to. There are not many who fall in the middle, so you want the "it" doctors when it comes to the serious stuff and often, there is quite a wait.

The earliest the dermo. could see me was late January. I made the appointment, but unfortunately, had to cancel at the last minute. I rescheduled, but I couldn't be seen until mid-March, so I waited.....When I was seen in March, the doctor took two biopsies, one from the spot on my temple and one from a spot on my lower calf. The office called with the result of the biopsies this past Monday and I was informed that the one on my leg was benign, but that the one on my temple was in fact "cancerous". The good news was, this type of skin cancer is only superficial and it will not infiltrate my body. Obviously though, it did need to be removed.
Generally, the doctor is booked out 4-6 weeks, but they happened to have a cancellation for this morning at 7:15, YIKES! I took the appointment, of course. I didn't think it was appropriate to wait 4-6 weeks because I needed my beauty sleep, although I'm sure I could have justified it.

A few of my girlfriends questioned if I was nervous, considering the doctor was going to be cutting my face. I told them I wasn't, mainly because I didn't see that I had a choice. I have some form of skin cancer (they told me what it is, but I didn't write it down) that needs to be removed and I am seeing "the" dermatologist in Alaska. What other option did I have than to lay on his operating table and take it like a real woman? Then, as I'm laying there, waiting for the procedure to begin, the doctor casually mentions to me that the "spot" is near a nerve and that there is a very small possibility that the nerve would be damaged during the surgery and that I would lose the ability to raise my right eyebrow. GREAT, just a minor detail! What the hell was I going to do now? I thought about jumping off the table and running out the door, but then the rational part of my brain took over. I reminded myself that I was being treated by the only dermatologist in Alaska that I would want to go to, therfore, I really didn't have any other choice. I sat there and took it like the woman I am.

Of course, Eric joked with me on the way out of the house that I was going to return looking like Frankenstein! I laughed at his comment, until I was given a mirror to check out the "incision". An incision was the doctor's polite way of say "gaping hole". Although the hole was only about the diameter of a pencil eraser, it was about as deep as one too. I was shocked! In my mind, he was just going to scrape the spot. I didn't know he was actually going to need a shovel to dig out the spot. He did stitch me up nicely though, and I'm sure the scar will heal just fine. Plus, it's sort of in my hairline, so it isn't that big of a deal.

You should see how big the dressing is that they put on me! It really seems dramatic and RIDICULOUS! I cracked up when I looked into the mirror post-surgery, just as I was getting ready to walk into Bed Bath and Beyond. I thought I might scare everyone away, but I opted to go in regardless. For the record, the cashiers were very polite and did their best not to stare.

The moral of all of this is...although my situation was best case scenario and things could have been far more serious (and I'm honestly not freaked out by it), but this kind of stuff doesn't just happen to "other people". It is important for us all to pay attention to our body. I was told today that there is a less than 1% chance that "cancer" will develop in the same spot again, but now that I've had it, there is a 30% chance that I will have more spots down the road. They said to keep an eye out for any new spots or sores (ie: a pimple) that don't heal within a few weeks and for now, I have to go back for check-ups every 6 months. The upside is, I noticed this spot early and on my own, so I'm doing my job!