I have battled and beat cancer again!
Actually, that makes it sound much more dramatic than it actually was. But, yesterday, I had a patch of skin cancer removed from my right shoulder. It wasn't anything serious, but I'm glad I got it taken care of.
A little over a year ago (or possibly longer), I had an itch on my shoulder and scratched it. I was surprised to scrape off the skin, but I didn't think much of it as I am often accidentally scratching myself to the point of bleeding. I noticed that the scratch was a circle, which was odd, but didn't give it a whole lot of thought.
When it didn't heal right away, I had my oncologist look at it (just in case), but he wasn't concerned, so I wasn't concerned. We both just figured that the slow healing was due to the fact that I still had chemo in my system. Ever since I went through chemo, I've noticed that all wounds take longer to heal than they used to. I got a pretty bad bruise on my leg last April (as in 2008) that took months to heal. In fact, if you look at it in the right light, you can still see a shadow of the bruise.
However, my scratch just wasn't healing at all. Everytime I went back to my oncologist, I had it checked, but there was no sign of any lump under the surface, and it wasn't getting any bigger, so we just weren't concerned. A couple of months ago, I finally starting going back to my general physician for my regular check-ups and decided to see what he thought.
He suspected it was a very non-invasive, surface-only form of skin cancer. He said that there was no chance that it would run rampant through my body and referred me to a dermatologist. After having a biopsy done, I learned that he was right and went in yesterday for outpatient surgery to have it removed.
Although I took yesterday off just to relax and recover, it was the easiest surgery I've ever experienced (not that I've had that many). When the doctor came in to remove it, he suggested I keep my eyes closed during the surgery, just to be on the safe side. When I closed my eyes, I said a little prayer that God would guide the doctor's hand, and he would be able to get everything in one surgery. (They have you sit in the waiting area while they test the skin they removed to make sure they got everything, so, if not, they can go back in while you are still there.) Before I could even finish my prayer, it felt like the doctor was starting to put in the stitches.
I opened my eyes to take a quick peek and, sure enough, he was stitching me up! So my entire surgery lasted approximately the length of one short prayer. To me, that was just a reminder that I'm always in God's hands.
The pain has been minimal... more soreness than pain. I've been taking Tylenol to keep it to a minimum. I'll get the stitches out in two weeks, and I have to be gentle with my arm (no lifting, etc.) for a while, but I'm glad to get it take care of.
I laughed when the doctor warned me that I will have a scar about 2 inches long. The nurse told him, "She's a breast cancer survivor. That's nothing to her!" So, true. He should see my other scars!
Anyway, all is good, the skin cancer is gone and, as far as my doctors and I can tell, I am healthy in every other way.
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