My Cancer Scare

About 10 years ago our church had a health fair. I was volunteering that evening and during a break, I walked around looking at the exhibits. At one booth was a dermatologist. I decided to let them give me a once over. They said I had a few odd moles and suggested that I make an appointment to come to their office.

I made the appointment and they did some scraping. Thankfully, nothing came back as any type of cancer (I was nervous). I kept going back once a year for checkups. As a teenager, I had to be sent home from the pool because my skin had blistered real bad. I learned that skin cancer only needs an event like that to develop years later.

After a few years of appointments, I started to think the occasional 'scrapings' were a gimmick to make money from insurance companies. I thought about not coming back, but I am glad I did.

A few years ago, one of the scrapings came back as a certain type of skin cancer, Squamous Cell Carcinoma. I had to have a mini-procedure (called Mohs surgery) to have the cancer removed. Thankfully, they were able to get it all. I was shocked at the number of patients in the waiting room. Almost all of us had bandages in the same spot (under the right eye).

They told me that if had not been diagnosed, it would have kept growing, and it could have been lethal.

So, needless to say, I go back for all my appointments.

I encourage anyone reading this to see a dermatologist (especially, if you never have).

For more info, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_cancer#Types