Medical Monday And Something I Wasn't Quite Expecting

   In my last Medical Monday post I briefly made mention of a blood donation I'd tried to make which never came off because I had had a punch biopsy the previous week and hadn't received the results yet. Even more briefly, if you recall, I made the fly-away comment that I hoped the results of the biopsy didn't lead to a bunch more Medical Monday posts. Well, I might have jinxed myself.
   This past Tuesday, my dermatologist's office contacted me with the results. There is a spot on my left temple which has been diagnosed as a squamous cell carcinoma---skin cancer.
   I wasn't quite expecting this. My dermatologist has been treating me for the last few years for any spots on my head and face which appear to be pre-cancerous. On a pretty yearly basis, I undergo applications of Efudex, a chemotherapy cream, which identifies these spots and essentially burns them away. It's kinda like giving yourself a good sunburn! This has all become so routine that I'd really stopped giving it a lot of thought---the pre-cancerous spots were becoming fewer and farther between and less of a concern.
   There has been this new spot, however, which I initially thought was the remnants of a pimple so I just scraped it off, it bled a little and then scabbed over. The scab never fell off on its own, however, and so I would scrape it off again. Another scab formed and this became an ongoing routine.
   The week before last, I attended my usual scheduled dermatologist appointment and we agreed that all the usual spots looked good. I then told her about this one particular spot which never seemed to heal. She examined it and then decided to do the biopsy. Which then led to this week's diagnosis.
   There are three basic types of skin cancer (not that I'm an expert but I do know how to google) and they are basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma. Basal cell cancer is the least worrisome or problematic. Melanoma is the worst. Squamous cell lies in the middle and just the fact that it's in the middle and not at the bottom tends to give you pause.
   The little bit of research I've done also indicates that, caught early enough, squamous cell cancer is extremely curable. Good news! All I need to find out now is what "early enough" means! The little spot on my temple is a pretty recent development, however, so I have as good a feeling as I can at this point.
   The treatment is pretty simple---cut out as much of it as you can until you can't find anymore cancerous cells. Easy peasy. I am hoping this does not leave a large hole (definitely nothing you can see through to the other side), heals quickly and then I just get on with things (only perhaps a little more vigilantly!)
   The surgeon who will be doing this has a pretty impressive resumé and can also do reconstructive work along with curing snoring. I will simply ask him to make me handsome at the same time as he's curing both my cancer and my snoring. It'll be a win-win-win for my wife!!
   All of this, of course, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of too much sun. As an adult, I think I've paid pretty good attention to keeping the sun off my susceptible parts. Broad-rimmed hats, tons of sunscreen, regular check-ups, etc. The killer (oops!) in this case may be all the sun damage I got as a kid. Lots of burns and several blistering ones. I used to love pealing the dead skin off my ears and arms, not even remotely thinking about what this might mean as a grown man.
   So there you have it---a different kind of Medical Monday. My knee is just about back to where it once was and one of these days I will be running through the forests again and you'll see scenery instead of medical reports. Yes!