Cancer Diary: Skin Cancer Awareness

 




May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. That gains attention close to home. I just had stitches removed from skin cancer surgery (last week). 

According to my surgeon, skin cancer can take the form of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, or squamous cell carcinoma. Of the three, melanoma is more dangerous because it spreads easily and quickly. Squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma can usually be excised. 

Both my late husband and I have experienced squamous cell carcinoma. For him, it appeared like a little horn on his forehead. It was easily excised and left no scar. Mine was more insidious. An "age spot" appeared out of nowhere, then grew, then changed shape, then because pussy, bled, and itched. The Skin Institute did not believe it was cancerous, but I insisted on an early biopsy -- and I was right. When something appears to be very wrong, it usually is very wrong, and the patient is still his or her own best advocate.

We were fortunate. With squamous cell carcinoma (as with basal cell carcinoma), survival rates are very high, 95%-98%. My surgeon told me he got everything, but since I live in sunny California where sun exposure is nearly impossible to avoid, I will need to be checked periodically for other eruptions of squamous cell carcinoma. (My husband died two years ago of cancer of unknown primary; skin cancer was just the fifth area to which the cancer had spread.)

Treatment for melanoma differs and can include surgery followed by chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy. Survival rates for melanoma are more pessimistic than for other forms of skin cancer but better than for some other kinds of cancer.

For other Cancer Diary posts, click HERE.

Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page, Carl's Cancer Compendium, as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts: Cancer Diary. 


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