This morning as I post this, my sister Connie is undergoing surgery for invasive skin cancer. The surgeon will slice a bit, do the pathology to be sure he has clean margins and, if not, go back in and slice another sliver and so on until they have clean, cancer-free margins. The pathology itself takes 45 minutes at least each time. We already know her cancer is pretty deep.
I’ve had my own bouts of skin cancer. One was a large malignant squamous cell carcinoma that grew on my arm above my wrist. It started as a small itchy patch on my skin I thought was merely the result of Arizona’s dry climate. But it wasn’t and grew into an alien tumor super fast. A chunk of my arm was removed until they found cancer-free margins.
The resulting scar is my reminder to take appropriate precautions and always wear sunscreen along with performing regular screening checks via self-checks as well as by my doctor.
Please think good thoughts for Connie today—and then arrange a preventative screening appointment to protect yourself. I want you to live and be happy.
Resources
- American Cancer Society
- CancerConnect
- Skin Cancer Awareness Foundation
- Skin Cancer Foundation
- SOS—Save Our Skin
- Women’s Health
7 comments:
Keeping Connie in my prayers today. My husband had a basal cell tumor removed a few years ago and I try to be vigilant about sunscreen, hats, and long sleeves.
Sending you and your sister positive and healing thoughts. I'm due for a checkup, thanks for the reminder. Hugs to you!
Hope your sister is OK...
All the best to Connie....it really is something we need to pay more attention to.
I really hope all went well for your sister yesterday.
I hope all went well with your ister's surgery, June! I've had actinic keratoses removed with chemotherapy cream that burned them off and I try to be very careful about using sunblock.
Your this is post is great
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