Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Keep an eye on your spots!

So we are just on the verge of my favourite time of year. SUMMER. I love the sun and the heat. Not being cold. But this year I will have a different attitude towards my favourite sunshine activities.

I've always been bad for using sunscreen, and I've gotten burned more times then I like to admit. This year is different.

Had to have a spot 'burned' off my shin last week and I have another appt booked for May to follow up. I'm not a 100% certain if it was melanoma but my Dr. was concerned enough that she had the dry ice out as soon as I showed it to her.

Interesting experience having a close encounter with dry ice like that. When she applied it, it didn't' hurt at all and then 20 minutes later it burned like a bitch and then stopped. There was no real blistering like I expected. Now my leg started aching yesterday and still is today. That was more to do with my banging it in the warehouse yesterday and discovering the hard way that there was a blister after all. I changed the band-aid today and some of the protective skin came off. Fuck.

Of course I have been reading up on melanoma and had no idea how serious it was. Yes it can kill you but also can be cured as long as it's caught early. Check your spots.
Go HERE and learn what to look for. Did you know that in women melanoma is most often found on the lower legs? Reading that scared me a bit. But if my spot was bad, it's gone now. I'll be looking closer at any others you can be certain of that.

So this summer, I am all about the sunscreen. Tons of it. Gallons if you will

1 comment:

Susan (that one in Oz again) said...

I was going to say I could kiss you for this post but, um, no, maybe a touch weird seeing as we've never met :-).

Going without sunscreen is not big nor is it clever. My beloved Dad died of malignant melanoma when I was only 27 even though he caught on to the danger quite early and always wore a hat, long sleeves and sunscreen. 27 is too young to be without the man who called you Bub. We still had so much to talk/argue about :-).

Hopefully this link works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_G6fmQo2o&feature=player_embedded

and keep on with that sunscreen!