Skin cancer. Wish me luck!

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Originally Posted by 4WD
Guess that was a Mohs surgeon and confirmed the margins right there in the lab. SCC can metastasize in the head & neck case - so do they have any image (Contrast CT scan etc) work planned ?

I know these things from personal experience (many removed, radiation, chemo) ...

They didn't do Mohs, but excised the area. Biopsy will be done on the margins of tissue removed. No CT scan planned as of yet and hopefully it won't be needed.

Scott
 
I had a growth excised from the back of my neck a number of years ago although it wasn't as involved as yours. I was stif necked for a few days. I still have the indentation and scar.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
 
That looks pretty bad for squamous cell carcinoma. I'm a Southern Cali boy my self and have been sunburned a lot thru out my life. I have had so many basal cell cancer spots burned or cut off my body I became somewhat numb to skin cancer.

This last winter I had a Melanoma tumor rise up out of a previous biopsy that was a benign biopsy 11 years ago! This tumor put me in stage 3-b, after a surgery to remove the tumor, and biopsy my sentinel lymph nodes. Lymph nodes positive for melanoma. I'm cut from the back of my knee, up to my crotch. After the sentinel lymph node biopsy came back positive, they put me in "The wait and see" category. I'm on chemotherapy every two weeks for one year. There have been some major life saving chemo drugs released the past few years that have been proven in patients with cancer that had spread to organs, and after this drug, "OPDIVO" have tested cancer free, not all, but some. I have tested cancer free in my organs before surgery. You might expect a CAT scan, MRI, and possibly a PET scan, unless your biopsy shows they removed all of your cancer, which I sure hope they did!

This will be an eye opener for you, you will have to see the Derm every 6 months for the rest of your life, also keep an eye on your skin. I actually shaved my head this winter just so I could get a good look at my scalp. My wife asked if I was going to join a prison gang, j/k.

If you ever need someone to talk to about this, just drop a message.

I wish you the best possible out come!
 
Or every two months like me .. and CT scan twice a year ... Love the feel of iodine in circulation (not really) ...
Radiation around your neck is a good way to diet once it tears up the throat ...

Wear that sunscreen and the funny looking hat folks ...
 
Best of luck in your treatment and recovery SLO_Town.

The whole topic of skin cancer puzzles me. Per medical data approximately half of the occurrences on the body occur where there is little to no sun exposure such as the bottoms of your feet or where you consistently wear clothing. Why is that? It's apparently more than just about sun exposure to bare skin. And it's quite possible some of the chemicals in sun screen and other skin products are some part of the problem. I have feeling that avoiding the sun and lathering down whenever going outside (ie resulting in having very low Vit D3 levels and hence lowered immunity) is also one of the problems. Are there much higher skin cancer rates among roofers, pro-golfers, life guards, greens keepers, farmers, etc. vs office workers and those who generally stay inside all day? For sure, dermatologists have scared the general population out of the sun it's no surprise the vast majority of us are now Vitamin D3 deficient.

I recall reading one scientific study that came out 2 or 3 yrs ago that stated women over 35 who tanned regularly had a 55% increase in the chance of getting skin cancer. Wow, that looked scary! Upon closer inspection, the occurrences of skin cancer in the base line group was 2 out of 1000 women....essentially zero. And those that tanned fairly regularly showed approx 3 out of 1000 occurrences....statistically irrelevant imo. But the math was quoted anyways. I believe in moderate sun exposure during the hours each day when UVB rays can get through (typically 10 am to 2 pm during late March to mid-September in the USA). Once you get your Vit D3 in 15-45 min doses, then lather up or cover up if you plan to stay out longer. Getting no frequent summer sun exposure to bare skin (no sunscreen) has just as much risk as getting too much exposure. Moderation in the things we do seems to work for most people.
 
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Originally Posted by 4WD
Or every two months like me .. and CT scan twice a year ... Love the feel of iodine in circulation (not really) ...
Radiation around your neck is a good way to diet once it tears up the throat ...

Wear that sunscreen and the funny looking hat folks ...


I get a PET scan every 2 months for a year, then 3 months for the next year. Then? IDK. I get sick from the CAT scan chemicals, pretty bad for about a week.
 
Good Luck, I had Basil Cell on my face. Had Mohs surgery that took 6 hrs. Had to cut 3 times to get it all. 3" scar that you can't see at all. The cutting was done by a plastic surgeon. I go in every time I notice anything strange and get it burned off.
 
Good Luck SLO _Town. Prayers sent they got it all, and that is the last of it!

Originally Posted by Blkstanger
Good Luck, I had Basil Cell on my face. Had Mohs surgery that took 6 hrs. Had to cut 3 times to get it all. 3" scar that you can't see at all. The cutting was done by a plastic surgeon. I go in every time I notice anything strange and get it burned off.

I had exactly the same thing done to my face, which took three cuts to remove, and 19 stitches to close. I haven't had any re-occurrences, yet.

People, be extremely careful when you're in the sun. Once you've been diagnosed with skin cancer the chances of it popping up somewhere else are high.
 
Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

I grew up in a beachside town and never used sunscreen. I have freckles across my shoulders from one particular Boy Scout campout on Mustang Island where the guy driving a bunch of us had a flat tire on the way home. We rolled the flat 2 miles to the nearest gas station only to find out yhere wasn't enough mobey between us all to fix it. Rolled it back to the car then rolled the flat spare to the station, thos time we barely had enough money to fix it (guess the station manager took pity on us in retrospect), then rolled the fixed spare back to the car. Pretty sure the dude who drove us was homeless or close to homeless and volunteered to get a weekend's worth of food. Worst sunburn I ever had. Luckily, still no skin cancer yet.

I have fought lung cancer and I'm at 2.5 years since diagnosis with no sign of recurrence. I had a boatload of complications during treatment. I'm just now getting close to back to where I was health and stamina wise before diagnosis.
 
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IMO radon gas exposure. I smoked decades ago, gave it up in 2000. The amount of cigarettes I smoked and the number of years ago I quit made me ineligible for preventive screening, stating I was too low a risk st that point. It was found after living 4 years in a house with a radon mitigation system in an atea where most homes have radon mitigation systems. Although readings were below the action leel with the mitigation system in place, a history of cigarette smoking plus exposure to radon increases lung cancer risk by several orders of magnitude (same with asbestos exposure, but I had no signs of mesothelioma). I'm in no hurry to live in the Great Lakes area again. It was pure accident it was found in the extreme edge of an abdominal CT scan where possible appendicitis was a concern, in the lowest corner of the lower lobe of my right lung. I had no cancer symptoms and nothing flagged up in annual physical exam test results.
 
Read in New Scientist again, multiple decades ago before there was internet that there's been enough plutonium particles released into the atmosphere through testing to give everyone cancer multiple times over.

microscopic particle lodged in a pore of alveoli give it some time...

Kodak got a big payout for their film being damaged by radioactive corn stalks used in the packaging material...would be amazed if it was only the stalks, and only corn that carried these particles.
 
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