I've had a mark on the side of my forehead for, I'm not really sure how long exactly, maybe six months, maybe twelve months, longer than six but I don't think longer than twelve. I'm not really sure now why, but I didn't really take too much notice of it. I kind of wondered what it was, but I couldn't really see it being on the side of my head. You know, I couldn't exactly inspect it like a hand or a leg. I kind of thought it was an in grown hair. I rubbed paw paw cream into it quite regularly, which seemed to make it better, reduced it for a while, but it didn't ever really clear it up.
It is strange to me now, why I didn't take too much notice of it. It is kind of small, like a scab the size of a match head.
A couple of times I've scratched it, or knocked it, and it has bled. Stupid thing.
The last time I scratched it was just a couple of weeks ago, in the last week of my last assignment. That was when I thought I should do something about it.
Last week, I went to the doctor to have it looked at. He looked at it and said, "Oh that looks like a small skin cancer, a SCC seems to be the medical shorthand. I have a good plastic surgeon I will send you to, now let me see what his details are."
Well, you know the only thing I heard, I stopped on that 6 letter word. I wasn't really sure what I should think, and for a split second I didn't really know what to think. Is this "that" moment, perhaps? However, I didn't get to think too much, as my doctor must have seen me faulted, as he touched me on the arm and said,
"Oh, don't stress, it is nothing to worry about."
Today, I drove to Ivanhoe for my morning appointment. My specialist smokes, that was the first thing that surprised me, it was the first thing I smelt as he started his examination. He looked a little worn down with life, and not really a picture of health.
He sat back in his chair. "Yes, well, that does look like a small skin cancer," he said. "We'll have to cut it out."
"Okay," I said.
"I'll use a local anaesthetic, it will sting like hell, I'll cut it out, there will be two, or three, stitches, you'll have a centimetre long scar which will be quite red for about six months, after which it will settle down. We will send it to the Austin Hospital for it to be analysed. Any questions?"
Any questions?
I'd already googled it. It seemed what my GP said initially was correct, there was probably nothing to worry about. If left, it would slowly get bigger, but it has very little chance of spreading. Usually, they are simply cut out under local anaesthetic and that is the end of the problem.
Here's hoping, hey?
It gets cut out in a month.
I'm wondering if I should tell any one? I don't know, maybe I should get very dramatic and announce it. "Sweetie, I have some bad news to tell you..."
Ha ha, he, he. I've told a couple of people. I haven't really announced it to the world, no.
2 comments:
Hope that's the end of it now that it's been removed. Amusing that a person who cuts out cancer is increasing the risk of contracting it himself by smoking.
I understand your reaction.
I felt stunned and worried when told I had a melanoma on my chest which needed to be removed especially given that my father died from melanoma.
That was five years ago and so far, fingers crossed, I have remained clear. I still have slight scarring from the excision.
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