Skin Cancer at 28

A lot of you may not know that May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, up until a few years ago, I wouldn’t have known that either. I’m going to share with you why it’s important to me and why it should be to you as well.

Growing up we always played outside and went to the beach during the summer and of course, Mom always put sunscreen on me but eventually, after enough playing and swimming, the sunscreen was gone and the sunburn arrived. I have had some of the WORST sunburns…you know the ones that even the lightest t-shirt rubbing against it hurts, where it hurts the back of your knees to walk… but it never stopped me from doing it over and over again. (In case you haven’t noticed, I am VERY fair skinned)

Then came my teenage years and trying to be tan because no one wants to be pale, right? So you lay out in the sun with your friends, cover yourself with tanning oil and bake in the sun….and for me, I’ve never been one to really “tan” I burn, peel, end up with a little color, repeat.

Fast forward to 2014, Springtime comes along and I do my usual tanning salon visits for a couple of months just to “get some color” before Summer, something I was doing every. single. year. But only a few times a week, only for a couple months, that can’t hurt, right?

Winter 2014 I notice a small pink spot just below my left eyebrow, I assume it’s a blemish of some sort, try to treat it, cover it with makeup, etc. and basically ignore it. Meanwhile, a friend of mine started seeing a Dermatologist and having skin cancer checks and convinces me that I should do the same. So I make the appointment for a full body skin cancer screening in February 2015. The day of my appointment they removed FOUR suspicious moles from my abdomen for biopsy and comment on the spot by my eye, “if it doesn’t heal up you need to let us know.” (note: I knew something wasn’t right with that spot but I chose to ignore it MUCH longer than I should have)

A week goes by and I get a call from my Dermatologist, all four moles were found to have precancerous cells. Meaning, they could progress to cancer but more often, they do not. While that was a good thing, it just made me more nervous about that ever annoying spot. Also, now that I had an abnormal skin cancer screening, I would have to go back to the Dermatologist every six months – YAY.

My August appointment comes around and by this time, I have had the spot for probably close to nine months… and I knew I had to be honest about that and let the Dermatologist do her job. She immediately sent me down the road to a Plastic Surgeon because of the sensitive location. He took a sample, stitched me up and off I went. About a week later I get a call from their office, this time not a “Hey nothing to really worry about, see you in six months!” call, no, this was a “The Doctor would like to meet with you about your biopsy” call. (oh shit)

“The spot is Basal Cell Skin Cancer”

I am well aware that my diagnosis could have been much worse (i.e. Melanoma) but that feeling, in that moment, when you realize what an idiot you were for letting it go on so long, for worrying about being “tan” and not taking care of your skin, that moment when you really aren’t sure what Basal Cell Carcinoma even means…it’s not a good feeling.

A little education (per skincancer.org): BCCs are abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin’s basal cells, which line the deepest layer of the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin). BCCs often look like open sores, red patches, pink growths, shiny bumps, or scars and are usually caused by a combination of cumulative and intense, occasional sun exposure. BCC almost never spreads beyond the original tumor site (thank god). Only in exceedingly rare cases can it spread to other parts of the body and become life-threatening. It shouldn’t be taken lightly though: it can be disfiguring if not treated promptly.

Promptly. I read that in my car as soon as I left the Doctors office, at LEAST nine months after first seeing this spot, on my face, by my eye. The Doctors recommended treatment was to have Mohs Surgery. To sum it up, the removal is done in stages, including biopsy while you’re in the office. They remove little by little and biopsy in between until all borders of the area show no abnormal cells. This way they aren’t taking any more than they absolutely have to. I went in for this procedure on October 1, 2015. A week before my 29 Birthday.

Unfortunately, while she was performing the procedure she noticed another small mole right by the spot, so they wanted to send a sample of that overnight for biopsy. What that meant for me was that I had to have my open wound packed and go home for the night before I could go back to the Plastic Surgeon for wound closure.  A few ibuprofens that night and I was alright, just a little sore.

The next morning, they called and everything was clear so I could head to the Plastic Surgeon to be stitched.  Now, I have a decent tolerance for pain (I think?) but when they went to re-numb the area, which was at least 4 shots all around the open wound, that was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life (no, I have not experienced childbirth) but it was awful!

At my next skin check, the Dermatologist found ANOTHER Basal Cell on my forehead. This one was much smaller than the other but again, on my face and in May 2016 I had my second Mohs surgery. Since then I have had two more precancerous spots removed from my abdomen and forehead.