Firstly, I apologise for going on at length about my woes, but (a) technically, you are all figments of my imagination and, even if I say so myself, dang I'm good at that - and (b) it has now entered the realm of "if you didn't laugh, you'd cry" territory.
I have a bank of toiled hours that I have been steadily chewing through in the last few years, and my balance will be fully masticated by the New Year.
Today, I went for a skin check.
I go every year for my skin check. I am white. I live in Queensland. I grew up outdoors and even though my mother thrust sun cream at me all through the 1970s ( and yes, while I could reach for the cop out of "we didn't know any better", my mother was a pharmacist so she knew about stuff way back then and she tried very hard to implement it) I was that kid: half-defiant, half-space-cadet.
(From the archives - skin checks)
I have a bit on my back and a scar on one arm and a circle on my driving arm (treatment was during COVID, so just the cream and instructions) - and last skin check I had, the young Dr was concerned about a spot on my chest - so concerned that he booked me in for his last appointment before paternity leave to check - but the baby had different ideas and so it was some weeks before he saw me.
When he looked - there was nothing there.
October last I arrived home from work and we had something yummy in the oven, so I bent down to check and the heat from the oven sort of superheated my workshirt buttons and I got two small burn marks from the buttoned shirts.
One never quite healed.
Many times I have been to the Dr (several different ones at the same practice) for one ailment or other and the "you should also look at this" item regarding the burn was often raised. But we all agreed that it was in a tender spot, I just needed to protect it and keep an eye.
Finally I made an appointment just for it alone about a month ago. I rushed back from my parents to get a scrape done one Thursday.
I had my skin check booked for two weeks hence.
A week later I got an appointment with the nurse to check the wound and my dressing it, and Dr popped her head in to advise pathology had returned and it WAS a BCC so she would have to go a little further at 3pm (medical terminology I now unfortunately understand) and so my skin check appointment became my re-excision appointment and my new skin check appointment was today.
Still didn't get margin.
Needs more from 12.
Because I "am still relatively young" and therefore my decolletage may have cause to be displayed, I am getting my own plastic surgeon.
But don't worry. It's one of the good ones.
It's all relative.
3 comments:
Having had one BCC removed from my nose, I can feel your pain with this. It was done in a setup where they didn't let you leave the chair until the margins were clear. And even though I've been given the okay to only get checked once a year, I opt for every six months. I know you'll be glad when that's all in the rear view mirror...
That was the same with my breast checks, Kelly - every year after 50 they said "you don't need to check them as thoroughly" and I said "I still think that I will". There is nothing wrong with a bit of vigilance.
I am mind boggled that they would say that you of all people don't need to be so vigilent about breast exams. Cripes. It runs in your family! That being said, I'm also mindboggled about your skin cancer. Holy cow sistah! That's a heaping helping of medical stuff on your plate.
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