I was washing my face before bed one night and I again noticed this pesky scaly spot on my forehead. It's been an annoyance for a long time, but I figured I'm a healthy 30 year old so I didn't think much about it. As I was washing my face, I decided to scrub it off and it began to bleed. This didn't seem like a good sign. So I went to webmd to see if I could find out how to rid my face annoyance.
When I typed up the description, a slide-show of skin cancers came up. I browsed through the slide-show and saw an exact image of what was on my face. I didn't read much after the word "cancer". It really freaked me out. I quickly logged on to facebook and began looking at pictures of me throughout the years. I noticed the spot on my face in a picture that was taken over 3 years ago. And it could have been there much longer than that. Which means I could have developed a form of skin cancer as early as 27!!!! This seems absurd to me since I was always the one liberally applying sunblock and hiding from the sun while my friends in high school would lay out at the pool. I was even called "casper" a few times in high school for being so white.
But when I thought about it, I never really put much sunscreen on my face... when I was little my mom always put it on me. But in high school, college, adulthood I never wanted to "ruin" my makeup by putting on sunscreen. And I didn't pay much attention if my foundation had spf in it.
I made an appointment with a dermatologist for the following Monday and since Matt was going to be out of town at a conference, I asked a friend to join me. The dematologist told me that it looked like "basal cell carcinoma" and he said "this is the best cancer to have because it's non life-threating and doesn't metastasize". WebMD says that this kind of cancer is the most common and accounts for more than 90% of all skin cancer in the U.S. and usually appears after age 50.
The dermatologist numbed my forehead and removed the spot of skin. He said that he'd send it to the lab and we should get results in a couple of days. A few days later he called me to confirm that it was in fact "basal cell" but the biopsy showed that he didn't remove it all. To be safe, there has to be 1 layer of "clean" skin all the way around the removed skin. So he said that he would be forwarding my information to a doctor who would perform surgery in order to get the rest of the basal cell removed. He said the good thing about the procedure is that they remove some skin, and can test it immediately and get results. If the biopsy comes back "unclean" then they repeat the procedure until the skin is cancer-free.
After a 2-week wait, I had the procedure. I went in at 12:30 and the procedure took less than 15 minutes! Then I had to wait in the waiting room until the biopsy came back, which took about 40 minutes. I had been praying that I would only have to have the procedure once-that they would get it all the first time around. But after 40 minutes the nurse called me back again and said that they would have to do the procedure again. This time the whole procedure took 5 minutes since my forehead was still numb. I then went back to the waiting room to wait some more. I didn't mind the waiting because my wonderful husband came with me and even got me a couple of magazines. Thanks babe!!! After an hour, the nurse called me back into the room and said that the biopsy showed that they got it all! The doctor came in to stitch me up and then I was able to leave.
What I have learned over the past several weeks:
1. I need to take better care of myself. I definately don't exercise like I should and I read that exercsing lessens cancer because your skin is nourished by your blood supply and exercise helps purify your blood. Exercising oxygenates and helps your blood build new, stronger and healthier cells.
2. Looks aren't important... although this is coming from a chick with a scar on her forehead and 1/2 of a missing eyebrow, so take it for what it's worth :)
3. God is continually teaching me patience... patience with my children, patience waiting on a house, patience with the healing process. I hate every minute of learning patience, but I know one day it will pay off if I am willing to let it. I'm so glad to serve a God who is patient with me and I want to be just like Him!
Now I'm on to the good part... healing! I'm going to post some post-surgery pictures. So, if you have a weak stomach PLEASE do not scroll down and look at the pictures I'm posting. I think it's cool how God designed our bodies to heal.
day 1
day 3
day 6
day 15
What a difference 15 days makes!!!
Thanks for reading and don't forget to wear your sunblock! :)
