Skin Cancer is in my blood. My father has it, my sister has it. So naturally my wife is concerned for me. As she likes to remind me, my back is a minefield of brown marks commonly called moles.
So after much harassment by my wife and my sister, I relented and went to see a Dermatologist. So a nurse comes in, looks at my chest, than looks at my back. Immediately I'm bombarded with a slew of questions concerning the little brown buggers. "I can't see my back, so I don't know, but my wife is in the lobby and she can tell you all about them".
Soon I am joined by my wife (and Caleb whom is attached to Mommy). Both ladies begin inspecting me and talking about my back and the many marks.
Soon the Dr Don King is called in. To my chagrin his wasn't black and his hair didn't look like he stuck it in an electric socket (I was so hoping). He walks in, introduces himself. Asks a few question. He than proceeds to walk around to look at my back.............
"OH MY GOD!"
Now, I'm no expert, but when a Dr who specialized in skin care; who sees countless patients and backs and fronts; begins a discussion about your body with the phrase "OH MY GOD!" it can't be a good thing.
Immediately there is discussion of biopsy and mapping my back and which moles we should biopsy. After much discussion they decide on the two winners. Apparently they are only allowed to biopsy two a day.
Dr King then proceeds to stick a very small, sharp needle into one of my moles. If you know me, you know I don't like small, sharp needles. Then within mere seconds the mole is cut and cauterized.
Notwithstanding the Dr's unnerving comment it was a relatively short and mostly painless visit. I have to go back tomorrow so they can continue to poke, prod and cauterize my back.
4 comments:
Here's the irony of skin cancer: The medical establishment wants you to wear sunblock so that you won't get skin cancer. But because sunblock blocks out the UVB rays that is needed in order for your skin to produce vitamin D, your immune system is greatly impaired. The inate immune response (your first line of defense) cannot fight disease off like it should, so this actually results in a greater chance of getting cancer. It's trading one form of cancer for another.
More irony: Most skin cancer from the exposure from the sun is much more treatable than the skin cancer that is a result of avoiding the sun.
Insult to injury: The real issue of cancer is metastasis. Some believe that performing biopsy on a tumor is part of the problem. The penetration of the tumor releases cancerous cells from the encasing of the tumor, therefore the procedure is metastasizing.
Some or all of the above may or may not apply to you since you seems to have a genetic predisposition for it. If you think you have the time to read, I'll let you borrow the book I bought from Bill Sardi, "You Don't Have To Be Afraid Of Cancer Anymore". Maybe the next time I visit Branch or have a get together with the guys.
And you know what's really sad? Because I'm closing in on the big FOUR OH, I just know the doctor will be hounding me to get his finger up my ass to check for prostate cancer. Not until I get a dinner, a movie and all my debts paid, dammit!
Yeah, bring the book next time we all meet.
I spent 6+ years of my life living in the sun without sunblock. With a year round tan you don't need sunblock.
3 months in boot camp in January in Illinois removed any trace I ever had of color. I've been prone to sunburns ever since then.
So you are saying the 6 skin biopsies I had may have been bad for me. Well "blow me down" "shiver me timbers" and such.
Prostate Checks. Hmm. I wonder what twisted individual first came up with that procedure. "I wonder what I can find up in here". The scary part is some guinea pig had to say, "Oh yeah doc, go ahead, I don't mind"
Women always talk about how intrusive thier "inspections" are. I can't think of anything more intrusive than prostrate checks.
So better you than me. I will continue to be gratefull that I'm a few rotations of the moon younger than you.
It really depends if the biopsies show that the moles are cancerous.
But even there, there are preventative measures, like vitamin D supplementation. During the winter months, the UVB rays bounce off the atmosphere because of the angle of the sun. Without the UVB, our skins won't produce vitamin D.
Before Bill Sardi's website was taken offline, he reported that one lab was using mice to test cancer cells. In on mouse, they injected the cancer cells, but when they checked on the progress, the cancer was gone. The mouse's own immune system fought off the cancer! They tried several times to get the cancer going, each time with more and more cancer cells injected, and each time the mouse's immune system fought it off.
Next, they bred the mouse to produce offspring. Each of the offspring also fought off the cancer cells.
On the site, they had a video that showed how the immune system attacked the cancer cells and destroyed them.
Most people are vitamin D deficient. This means that the body's immune system is not working at its peak. You can learn more about it at the Vitamin D Council website.
There's so much more to say, but the book says it all. I haven't even gone though a quarter of it yet, and I've had it for over a year.
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