I know it has been quite a while since I have written but I think I have a
pretty good reason. I always write about my lifelong love of the
water, outdoors and passion about cottages and lakeside living so it was quite
ironic that this past December at age 41, I had a melanoma scare. I am 100%
Irish and fair-skinned and have certainly had my fair share of sunburns in my
life with plenty of freckles, or as my Dermatologist calls it - "sun damage" to
prove it. I have been very careful and diligent in the past several years with
sunscreen and cute hats and fairly regular visits to the dermatologist for full
body skin cancer checks. I say regularly because it had been about 3 years
since my last check up so I was not overly surprised that at my recent check-up
my doctor wanted to biopsy a freckle that I had developed on the top of my lip
that I thought was "just another freckle". I have had 2 biopsies before right
in her office for concerns of basal cell carcinoma that both my parents
have that came back fine so when she referred me to a plastic surgeon I was a
little surprised but went ahead and made the appointment.
I went to see the "best of the best" at Loyola University Medical Center
for my appointment and it wasn't 5 minutes in that he told me he thinks I have
melanoma and wants to surgically remove the lesion at his soonest scheduled
surgery day. Huh? Melanoma? Not basal cell, not squamous cell? Melanoma??? He
said "I am very concerned about this" and proceeded to draw with his purple
marker the area that he needed to remove as well as healthy tissue / skin
surrounding the lesions and that I should expect a second surgery to remove more
as necessary if I receive a malignant melanoma diagnosis. I feel like my life
just froze at that moment and the next 5 days until the surgery were a complete
blur. I couldn't look at my two boys without tearing up no matter how hard I
tried to stay strong. My family was amazing and so supportive and I don't know
what I would have done without them. Needless to say that after that first
appointment with the surgeon this hell finally ended 3 weeks later (7 days for a
pathology report after surgery which happened to be Christmas and then the
surgeon was out of town-UGGGH) with a BENIGN diagnosis. Thank You God.
Having grown up with a summer cottage and having fair skin I felt that I
was pretty aware of the warning signs of skin cancers but I learned something
that I never knew about melanoma. Everything I have heard and read and seen
pictures of is the ABCDEs of Melanoma: A-Assymetry, B-Border, C-Color,
D-Diameter, E-Evolving but what the surgeon told me after he expressed his
suspicion is something I have never heard and more people should know:
"You Should Never Have Pigmentation on the Palms of Your Hands, The
Soles of Your Feet or Your Lips" and if you do you are in danger of
melanoma. Had I ever even heard this before I would have never waited 3 years to
get this freckle on my lip looked at! I think now sometimes what if it was
melanoma and I gave it 3 long years to spread. I try to put these thoughts out
of my head as I am so very grateful to have dodged this bullet and I am just
looking forward to living my life to the fullest and continuing to find the
beautiful in the everyday - it is truly a gift!
