It is that time of year again to raise  awareness for skin cancer.  I am so amazed at the number of people I meet who never have been to a dermatologist. I am even more amazed when I meet someone who feels proud of their tanning be visits and think “well, something is going to kill me eventually…” Ah! The ignorance… 

I am thankful I had a doctor in Birmingham who was thorough and has made me aware of what to look for. Please be vigilant in seeking out the best in doctors.  A full body check is not a 3 minutes procedure and if you are not checked from head to toe (literally) you need to find a new dermatologist.  It took me two tries to find a great doctor here in Georgia.  Yes, I may drive 45 minutes to see her, but she is thorough.  Today is my 2016 first visit and I see an oculoplastic surgeon next week for two suspicious marks at the base of my eyelid. I want you each to remember something my Momma said: “The doctor who graduated first in his class and the one who graduated last in his class both have M.D. behind their name”.   

This is a repost from 2010 about skin cancer because I really do not think my friends take the seriousness of the matter to heart.  Since 2012, too many to count freezes of suspected precancerous spots and six biopsies–two of which were cancerous.  They were not melanoma, but it easily could have been.  It easily could have been you.

SUNDREAMS & SUNSCREENS

There is something to be said about the lackadaisical concern about the sun and its effect on the body. Oh! How I loved the days spent out at the Windjammer and Station 22 at Sullivan’s Island. I always felt better with “color” although I always seemed to look like I swallowed a dollar and it broke out into pennies…(Thanks, Momma…LOL) But, I loved the sun—days spent with baby oil slathered all over my body and the smell of Hawaiian Tropic! Even the worst burn never felt too bad as I knew I was getting “tanned”. Awww! Nothing better…until…

The first dermatologist called the spots on my hand “age spots”. (Now, you know if you know me well, that was just plain ugly! She could have just called them mature freckles!) A year goes by. One spot looks different and I am referred to the Skin Wellness Center by my GP. Six places “frozen” and then there was those “age spots”. One biopsy later and surgery scheduled the next week. What was the size of a speck required a three and one half inch cut! I never knew that skin cancer roots out under the skin like a tree. This was basal cell carcinoma, skin cancer. It was not a dark spot, but pearly and scaly. Here I was looking for the dark changed mole. I could not have been more off the mark! This was a big wake up call and a change in life style.

My life now consists of 55-70 block from head to toe before I ever leave the house. I tire of people asking me if I am sun burnt as my chest is a permanent dark pink due to the sun damage I received in my teens and 20s. I scour my body for new places and fret when a spot doesn’t look quite right. I faithfully see Dr. Hartman as I am high risk. Every three months, head to toe, and there is always a place of concern. Next week I see him again only a month into my three month cycle for the place where I received a vaccination when I was a child. I did not know that places that have produced a scar are more prone to skin cancer. One mere spot and three freezings later. It has not gone away. Will it be cancer? I pray not as I do so often. Now, just because I am fair and you may be dark does not count you out. My own husband had two precancerous spots frozen off. Jay, with his dark Sicilian blood and skin, was not immune to the sun’s dangerous rays.

Skin cancer is now the most common cancer in the United States. According to dermatologist, Jeanine Downey who was featured on Good Morning America, one in five people will develop skin cancer over the course of their lives. One in five…take me out of the equation as I have already become a statistic.

 About ten years ago, I watched as the best boss anyone could ever have was diagnosed with melanoma. One spot and he grew so ill. One spot caused by our beautiful sun. He went through the ringer of cancer and actually came out on the bright side. He is alive, but I am sure his life changed immensely.

Cancer is cancer—a taker. We hear everyday about how breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer takes away people we love, but seldom do we sit back and really listen to skin cancer. It is the quiet one, the one that goes unsuspected until you glance at the scars where it has taken up home.

I miss the days of full on color, the days when I could press my finger to my skin to see if I had gotten sun. I worry when I see pics on Facebook of childhood friends who glow too hard from the sun or hear young girls saying they need to get to the tanning bed. I get concerned when I see my nephew burnt to a crisp for him to reply “It’s only sun”.

God, how I wish it was…