First the good news. The stitches are out of my finger. Yippee! The pins are out of my finger. Yippee!! The bones are healed. Yippee!!! However... The progress on mobility backslid while my finger was in the latest bandage. The finger only bends about 60° and won't touch the palm. Yet. Give it a few weeks.
The so-so news. As you may remember from last Thursday, it was not a good evening. After calling the doctor's office this morning for the official word from my biopsy, the nurse informed me that the results came back with "suspicious cells". The doctor wants to do a more extensive biopsy at the end of August. She wants the site to heal before she takes more. Next time she'll stitch me up, that's how much she plans to take.
And the warning? It may be too late for you. According to doctors, melanoma is a young person's cancer. The damage is done when we're young. Such as the many, many sunburns (including one second-degree sunburn) growing up as a fair-complected, red-headed child spending summers on the Gulf Coast. Whose great-grandfather died of the disease.
But it's not too late to pass the warning along to others. "Dear 16-Year-Old Me" isn't meant as a "Scared Straight" admonition against tanning. Just as a friendly prodding to check yourself.
Sunday
3 weeks ago
It's awful to have to wait that long for a more extensive test. I am glad your finger is healing, slowly but surely.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely talk to my teens, yet again.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! I know I did lots of damage lathering up with baby oil to get a tan that never happened... just a ginger girl all the way!
ReplyDeleteUgh! That wait is awful! I can't believe the doc really believes it's melanoma and wants to wait.. "Suspicious cells" can mean anything. I had 12 years of twice yearly paps due to "suspicious cells"!! that turned out to be nothing. I doubt they think it's bad, or they wouldn't wait. They're just covering their a**es.. I tanned to mahogany all my life, and so did my mom and bro.. so far we're all ok.. it's so ingrained in our culture that it's hard to convince anyone not to do it! Glad your finger is healing..
ReplyDeleteGreat news on the finger, I'd be punching somebody in the nose at that doctor's office and the warning strikes all too close to home.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the beach and the "wisdom" then was once a burn stopped peeling you had a good foundation for a tan and the darker the tan the better. I was hospitalized once with sun poisoning after passing out drunk on the beach. In my 20s I would start tanning by early may and be as dark as a beer bottle by the 4th of July! Now I'm worrying about a crusty patch that appeared on my chest a while back. I'm scheduled to have it looked at in September.
@Laoch, Thanks. Slow but sure is the way to go.
ReplyDelete@dbs, Show them the video.
@Nadine, Baby oil and iodine - to give you a nice orangy color.
@Jean, Say the C-word and I get scared. It seems to run in my family. Took my mother, my maternal uncles, and my maternal grandfather and great=grandfather. (Only my g-grandfather was melanoma.)
@Chip, I'll come hold your hand since I'm a few months ahead of you.
@Anonymous, I think if the doctor had been really concerned she would have scheduled something sooner. But your point is well taken.
@Gaelic, I hope it turns out to be no more than suspicious.
ReplyDeleteThe wait is awful, sorry Gaelic.
sending positive thoughts your way
ReplyDelete