Not just scratching the surface (My Experience of Skin Cancer)

Name: smartie

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Product:	My Experience of Skin Cancer
Date:	14.06.01 (144 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be treated successfully if caught early enough!, Approximately 95% success rate

Disadvantages: if you ignore if, it can kill you!, 1 in 4 people die from it, You will have to avoid the sun for the rest of your life

“I ‘ear you’ve got a mole” is a line from one of Jasper Carrott’s sketches. “There’s only one way to get rid of a mole..….blast it’s bloody ‘ead off!” it continued.

I had a mole but, not the small burrowing creature, and it certainly did not need blasting away. I had a mole on my back. I had had it for years. I’d become quite attached to it. It was the size of a 2p piece, and was one of twenty or more dotted over my back, chest and arms. It wasn’t concerned at all, after all I do not have a fair complexion or sunbathe throughout the day in the summer.

A visit to the Doctor the day after New Year’s Day changed everything. I went to see her about something else. That was okay, but she asked in passing what was that on my back, how long had I had it, and when did I last have it checked out. “Oh, it’s just my mole, had it years. It’s never given me trouble”. Within 2 weeks I was being examined by the Skin Consultant in the local hospital, and a further week I was under the knife in the Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit. Who says the NHS is slow!

The result? Malignant Melanoma. Skin Cancer. The Big C in other words. I had an ice cream scoop-full of skin and tissue gouged from my back, and a skin graft the size of a postcard taken from my thigh to cover it back up. Yes it was painful. But nothing compared to what could have happened if I had not visited the Doc and if she had not acted so quickly. They’ve got it all out, so they say. But I’m “in the system” for regular check ups for the next 6 years. I feel like I’m a time bomb waiting to go off. What a start to the New Year. But it IS a New Year for me. It’s also a new life.

In between receiving notification of the operation and afterwards, I have researched as much as possible about Malignant Melanoma. Like most cancers, i
t is a silent killer. It is one of three types of Skin Cancer. But, and this is a BIG but, if caught early enough it is about 95% curable.

I have thought back about how, as a nipper, I would spend the weekends down the bays; how I would compete with schoolmates as to how much skin could be peeled off my back and arms; of how I loved my 2 weeks sunblitz in the Med in July/August; of how I craved a bronzed body. These memories now act as a warning for my kids.

I’m not going to stop them enjoying the sun. I’m not going to stop enjoying the sun. But precautions will be taken. For example a minimum of Sun Factor 15 cream; tee shirts to be worn when in the pool. Hats to be worn when the sun is at its highest. Simple, yet effective actions.

I have taken the opportunity to be proactive, in my own way, about this terrible form of cancer. I have written an article for my local employer's newsletter which will be circulated to over 12,000 staff, and photos I had taken before and after excision of the mole will be used as a poster by the local Health Promotion Unit.

I’ve been lucky, or unlucky as the case may be. What I will suggest to you all is to check out any suspicious moles you may have. One of the best Internet Sites for easy to read information I have found is http://www.skincancerfacts.org.uk, but you should have a word with your Doc or Dermatologist if you are worried or want reassuring.


Happy SAFE Sunbathing!!

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