Skin Cancer--I Know It's a Boring Subject

Hello, Everyone:

I will be 58 years old in February, and for the past 8 years or so, I have unfortunately had bouts with Basal Cell Carcinoma. When I was young, I would lay out in the sun trying to get a nice tan, for the ladies of course, and we would actually try to increase the amount of UV by splashing on baby oil mixed with iodine. It was exactly the opposite of the rationale for wearing sun screen today.

Up 'til now, I've had all my cancers cut and cauterized with no major problems except for a place by my left ear. This place had been cut on twice before, but they never got all of the cancer cells out. Each time resulted in a moderate size wound requiring 15 - 18 stitches. On Monday we attacked the problem area again, this time employing MOHs surgery. This is the surgery where they cut what looks and feels like cancer, then they give the removed tissue to a pathologist to see if there are 'clean edges'. The waiting time between cuts is about 2 hours while they prepare the slides. During this waiting time it's very common to have blood streaming down one's neck and to require more cauterization.

After about 8 hours (4 attempts), I finally got clean edges. The wound was too big for 'normal closure', so I had to have two skin grafts on Tuesday. I have over 100 stitches in my face and around my ear, and I'm very uncomfortable. My wife won't let me go out of the house for fear of scaring children. (I should have done this just before Halloween.)

I am NOT writing this to you so that you'll feel sorry for me. I'm writing to remind you to WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN and stay OUT of the sun whenever possible. I am very blessed that I only had Basal Cell, because if it had instead developed into Melanoma, I'd probably be counting down the days until my funeral.

Skin cancer is very serious business. I wish I could go back in time and NOT lay out, NOT apply baby oil and NOT get overexposed to the sun. So here's some free advice: Don't do what I did. With what we know now, there is no excuse for getting burned, so just don't do it!

I'm very blessed to have a loving wife to help me through this time, and also thanks to Judge Steve for the encouraging gift of a Bloody Decks shirts to remind me of our 10 day trip that we've got planned next November. I already have 2 cases of sun screen packed, along with long-sleeve shirts, very large hats and a face shield!

We all want good times on the water, and may none of you have to go through what I'm going through--It can happen if you just wear your sunscreen.

P. F.

Source: http://www.360tuna.com/forum/f18/skin-cancer-i-know-its-boring-subject-31887/

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