Skin Cancer: Get Real!

If you know me, which you probably do if you're reading this, you know that I've often said, "I will get skin cancer at some point in my life". More a factual statement than a question. This year, with being pregnant, my moles have changed (normal during pregnancy) and I decided to make an appointment with an actual dermatologist. At my visit, she removed one mole (by freezing it with nitro) and took a sample from three others for a biopsy. Of the moles, only ONE of the THREE was in a spot that would see sun (just an FYI sun doesn't = cancer all the time). That was last Thursday.

Yesterday, the following Wednesday, I received a call from her office. You may already know, a call means somethings up; not normal. Turns out that one of the moles came back with abnormal cells. NOT CANCER- but cells that have changed in a pattern that often leads to cancer. My dermatologist was AWESOME and took the time to call me back with answers to my questions and walk me through what was going on.

In a couple weeks I'll have the entire mole removed and the doctors will examine that tissue for any other abnormalities.

Point being, by taking a moment out of my life to play things on the safe side, I may have saved myself A LOT of pain and trouble down the road. I can't encourage you enough to add to your yearly check list a trip to the dermatologist especially if skin cancer has been in your family.

Bright side findings:

• It's NOT cancer yet!
• I was WITH my mom, who has had skin cancer removed. She was able to tell me about her procedure, pain level, recovery time etc. Very comforting.
• Only ONE of the three areas biopsied was abnormal!
• Treatment will be completed before the end of June.
• William will be A-Okay because it's not cancer (that was my biggest fear: that something would happen to him in my tummy)