Tuesday, September 28, 2010

History Repeats

Following-up on my previous posting, The Black Spot, about Nancy's Melanoma - Since my annual checkup with my Dermatologist earlier this spring, a painful little nub showed up on MY forearm recently. This time it was Nancy who suggested I have it checked; I did and it was removed and biopsied last Thursday.

I just got off the phone; the pathologist report came back Squamous cell carcinoma. I go back in the day after tomorrow to have them carve into me a little deeper.

The upside: Nancy and I will now have "matching" forearm scars... and hopefully live to share them with one another for some time in the future!
~~~
I have also posted a follow-up on post publishing the two videos of the interview with Bill Clinton. (The Man Knows) Many of my overseas readers said that they are blocked from viewing the videos; I have added a link that shows how to circumvent the blocking. Special thanks to the blogger at Broken Secrets. The link to the fix is in the updated post.

18 comments:

Gorilla Bananas said...

Well, thank goodness you spotted it early and got it removed. May it deepen the close bond between your forearms too.

The Mother said...

Have a fun dermoplasty.

My dermatologist keeps taking this thing off my nose. AK, theoretically. He tells me that I'm almost out of the danger window, having got suddenly smart and covering up somewhere around 20 years ago.

Yeah, right.

PeterDeMan said...

Yikes! Am sure hoping you got to it early enough; has the Doc said? My Lady, who knows all things medical says this carcinoma isn't as worrisome as a melanoma, but, what the hey!

In my industry management days I had a general foreman that worked for me and with whom I became good friends. He was fair-haired and fair-skinned. He went to Yellowstone every year to fly fish; no sunscreen I know of 30+ years ago. He never wore a hat. He had just realized his dream of a home in the woods with a stream running thru it (and a new wife he loved very much) when he was diagnosed with Melanoma. It kept breaking out all over his body. He wanted desperately to live and fought with everything he had, even traveling from Michigan to Duke University Medical school for experimental treatment......all to no avail. It can't be easy for either of you to get such a diagnosis; sure hope you and the docs stay on top of things.

Jeesh, perhaps I should apologize for such an upbeat tale.

DJan said...

Squamous cell carcinoma is nowhere near Melanoma in seriousness. Everyone who lives to be seventy or eighty is probably carrying around some of the former, and every other week somebody in my hiking group is having something cut off their face, arm, etc.

Robert the Skeptic said...

Bananas Indeed, our forearms are quite close, I can attest.

Dr. Mom I am not a big "outdoor person" nor do I bask in the sun to get a tan. I usually stay covered up. I might need to borrow a Berka if this keeps up, though.

Peter Yes, the prognosis for this type of cancer is very good. Still, it is a bit disconcerting. The fact is that statistically the numbers say that a percentage of us will get hit sometime. But as Roseanne Roseannadanna always said: "If it's not one thing, then it's somethin' else".

DJan Yeah a buddy of mine has do deal with skin cancers, he was an avid high mountains hiker as well. Less atmosphere, I guess, makes the radiation a bit more harmful.

Entre Nous said...

Whoa, I'm catching up again, hugs to your wife, and I hope they don't carve too large of a piece away. But hey, now you can say you guys were attached at the arm - as opposed to the hips!

Good to hear it is not the drastically nasty sort, though it's bizarre when someone says, "You have cancer." I had 12 lbs of guts removed to 'get it all.' One of the guys at work said, "Whoa, that's the size of an oven roaster." Men, always thinkin' about food... :}

secret agent woman said...

Not that you want any cancer, of course, but squamous cell carcinomas are at least a better one to get.

Anonymous said...

Wishing you the best with this. Early=better. Guess I've got to start keeping track of all of these weird brown spots on my hands......nope, they are apparently just called age spots.
Both of you take care!

Robert the Skeptic said...

Entre Nous That's a lot to give up in one surgery, but a quick way to lose weight. I would never had made the food reference though.. too squeamish for such analogies.

SecretAgent I know, though this cancer has moved things up a notch from the Basil cell versions which I am becoming increasingly familiar with freezing off.

BackRow I think the "age spots" are eventually fatal at some point as well.

Elisabeth said...

That settles it. When my broken leg heals, not only am I off for a bone density count, I'm having a spot skin check.

You two have put the wind up me.

Scary stuff this skin cancer, but great that you both nipped it in the bud.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Cautionary tales surround us, yours being valuable as it is so easy to get caught up with all that is meant to scare us, over which we have no control. Wishing you an excellent outcome with the follow-up procedure and happy kindred forearms.

Me said...

I truly hope everything turns out for the best!

Robert the Skeptic said...

Elisabeth Sometimes its the little routine things that have a big bite if we are not mindful. Checking things rather than dismissing them is a good strategy.

Marylinn It's always good to be aware of these things; not to be frightened of them, but to rationally and prudently deal with the little adversities life tends to throw under our feet at times.

Orhan As most before you have pointed out, this is a cancer with a small "c"... not very frightening.

Rain Trueax said...

Well that's scary but good you caught it early. I had a precancerous squamous (forget the exact name) on my forearm a few years ago. The doctor didn't think it was anything but it had bothered me and when it was biopsied, it was potentially something if I had ignored it.

Robert the Skeptic said...

Rain Yeah, we've reached that point in our lives where we don't seem to be able to depart the doctor's office without leaving some piece of us behind. [sigh]

Gutsy Living said...

I am so glad you both got checked. I am due myself and with our healthcare changing every year, we have to find new dermatologists which is a pain. Glad you told Nancy to get it checked. Do you have any nose spots? That's where I seem to get problems.

Robert the Skeptic said...

Gutsy Welcome back!! No, my nose has been spared the dermatologist scalpel, fortunately, though I did have one taken off my upper lip. A nicely trimmed beard and moustache hide the scar.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

Thanks for the video update. I would need to have firefox on my mac and I don't have much experience. Can I have both and just select which I prefer when ever?? Safari is my current browser. You skin stories are a bit unnerving. We have been told spots are nothing to worry about yet my daughter recently had one removed at the doc's request. How does she decide who should see a dermatologist?? I guess we'd better aks from now on.