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It Only Happens to the Other Guy I'd like to say I was in a fight defending my gardening skills, but it had nothing to do with something so mundane. No, I'd have to say my lifestyle over the past 50 years or so has caught up with me. And being an avid gardener may have contributed to the outcome. Partially, it's my fault. I admit to it. Sure, I wear a hat in the garden most of the time to keep that hot Arizona sun from beating down on me. Unfortunately I seldom, wore sunscreen or protective, long sleeved shirts. Now, when my skin shows signs of age and sun damage, I sure wish I had taken those extra couple of minutes to generously slather on sun block all over the exposed portions of my body. Recognizing a Problem I knew a neighbor who died in his twenties because of a rapidly spreading skin cancer and knowing that was enough to finally make me get an appointment with my primary care physician to have the growth removed. A quick, nearly painless biopsy, a little bleeding, and a bandage later I was out of the office. Five days later I got a phone call. I needed to have the thing removed and Mohs surgery was recommended. I called the referred skin cancer surgery center the same day and was given an appointment that was over a month away. Within two weeks of the diagnosis, the rest of the biopsied growth fell off. Two weeks after that, it was pretty difficult to tell where the squamous cells had formed. I wanted to cancel my surgery appointment, but my wife threatened personal injury if I tried. In the meantime I did manage to get some sort of eye infection in my left eye and of course its close proximity to the skin cancer gave me reason to speculate. Had it spread? I'm one of those individuals who always expects the worse. Of course, that's not the best way to assure a good night's sleep. And be assured about a month later I was awake most of the night worrying before the 6:45 a.m. appointment with the surgeon. I was surprised how many other patients were at the doctor's office waiting to have some form of Mohs micrographic surgery. I understood why it took over a month to get an appointment. There were a lot of people, many of them my age and older, with some form of skin cancer. And according to The Skin Cancer Foundation, there are over 250,000 new cases involving squamous cells each year. The second most common form a skin cancer. Eventually I was escorted to an examining room where I answered a few questions for the nurse and then was asked to change out of my clothes into one of those hospital gowns that opened in the back. While I was there, and since I'd never had a full body exam by a dermatologist, the physician would check to see if I had any other possible trouble spots. It didn't take long for a mole behind my right ear and one in the middle of my back (that I've never even seen) to be called questionable. They were photographed for future reference. Next came three quick shots of local anesthetic applied by one of the nurses. Not long after that the physician returned. The squamous site was treated and would be biopsied on site to make sure it was fully removed. Samples of the other two sites were removed and would be sent to another lab for study and I would be informed of the results, one way or the other, in about seven days. The two moles were covered with bandages and the facial wound was temporarily covered and I was asked to get dressed and return to the waiting room. Some of the Other Guys
The woman made note that she had spent much of her youth along one of the California beaches and the gentleman with the cancerous lower lip claimed he had had a sore on his lip that never healed. He was also a smoker. The clown nosed lady was heading for plastic surgery the next day and I don't know what would happen to the gentleman with part of his lower lip missing. Give up smoking, I hoped. My left eye continued to bother me but I attributed it to the hole in my upper cheek and the subsequent swelling. I also wished that my ordeal was over and all the cancerous growth was removed with the first scraping of the knife. The gentleman and lady were both escorted back behind closed doors. That made me a bit anxious because I'd gone in before them for my Mohs surgery and had been sitting longer waiting for the results. It wasn't too long after that, and a few worrisome minutes, that a nurse called for The Tucson Gardener and escorted me back to another room where she said, "good news, looks like we got it all." She placed some paper booties over my shoes, and put a surgical cap on my head before I was guided to a sterile room where the hole in my face would be stitched together. After some bandaging, several deep sighs of relief from myself, and friendly, nervous chatter with a couple of the nurses, I was allowed to check out. I told the nurses, "I really hope I never see you guys again." And I meant that in a nice, but sincere way. Guess they knew something I didn't because they assured me I'd be back. They meant for a follow-up to make sure my wounds had healed correctly. I drove myself home, gave the good news to my wife and went out to the ramada and took a desperately needed nap. Several hours later the ordeal caught up with me and I came down with a heck of a tension headache, felt like tossing my lunch and basically moaned and groaned for an hour or so. It had nothing to do with the actual surgery but everything with the original stress of not knowing how bad it could have been. Not Over Yet According to The Skin Cancer Foundation, "Cancerous and precancerous conditions can recur even when they appear to have been adequately treated. No fail-safe method of treatment yet exists." Wide rim hats, long sleeved shirts, and plenty of SPF 30 sun block are in my gardening future. And be assured I'll take the time to apply all three and probably be more apt to take that mid day nap when the sun is at its peak or at least do my gardening chores in full shade. I really don't want to be one of those other guys I saw in the doctor's office. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees. And if you're a Tucson gardener, no matter what your age, you do want to very seriously consider that ounce of prevention each and every day. (2007) |
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