Skin Cancer is Ugly (Warning: Graphic Image)

At 41 I've had skin cancer.  I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise.  I have fair skin, freckles, blue eyes.  I wasn't a sun lover, hated laying out like my friends, but I have had a few bad sunburns in my time.  My Grandma has had multiple skin cancers.  My Dad has had multiple skin cancers.  He's had melanoma, the worst of all skin cancers.  Luckily, his was caught at the earliest stages.  Still, it was a surprise.  It just was. 

Last February I had a little abrasion appear on my shoulder.  I just scraped it off and didn't think much about it, but it kept coming back until it formed a little oval, about the size of a pencil eraser if they were oval.  It caught my attention often because it just wouldn't go away, but it didn't look like a mole.  Then, when I found the lump in May and went into my doctor's office, I also mentioned the little abrasion.  My doctor told me I should get it checked out. This sounds simple enough, but there just aren't a sufficient amount of dermatologists in Great Falls, so she recommended a clinic in Helena.  The receptionist called and set up an appointment for me.

With all the breast biopsy stuff going on, the abrasion was overshadowed.  Then, in August, my cousin, grandmother, sister and I made a day of it in Helena as I went to have my little abrasion checked.  This doctor felt it needed to be biopsied, and she cut it off.  Before I left the office, she told me she thought it was basal cell carcinoma, but wouldn't know until it was analyzed.  I was glad she planted that possibility in my mind because the call telling me it was didn't catch me as off guard as it would have.

I was told the next step was Mohs surgery and the soonest they could fit me in was Oct. 19th. (The doctor only does them on Wednesdays).  Basal cell is a highly common form of skin cancer and very treatable, so I wasn't overwhelmed with worry.  Kurt, Cooper & I went to Helena and made a fun day of it as the surgery wasn't until almost 2pm.  Right before surgery was a full body check in which they did 2 more biopsies.  I'll get the results in a week.  The surgery took about an hour and a half.  I was very blessed that the doctor got it all the first time.

Today I removed the bandages.  I was caught off guard once again.  That little oblong eraser end was much more menacing than it appeared.  Skin cancers can be like icebergs, we only see the tip.  I feel a little like Frankenstein, which is appropriate for October.  This is my story, my experience.  Everyone's is unique.  I don't like to show off my skin, at all.  I'm a bit prudish.  In this case though, I want my family, my children, to realize the importance of listening to the Spirit, of following those promptings, of paying attention, of knowing your family history.  I don't even want to know what this would have involved had I put it off even longer.  Skin cancer is ugly.  The picture below is ugly.  Knowing the cancer is gone is beautiful.