Wear your hat; wear your sunscreen; and put me on your prayer list please?

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BigSkyTrailerGuy

BigSkyTrailerGuy

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Big Sky Country
Tomorrow I go in for my first PET scan to learn how bad my just-discovered melanoma is.  :'(

The sun is no joke; I've shrugged off sunscreen for 59 years, please don't be like me.
 
 
BigSkyTrailerGuy said:
Tomorrow I go in for my first PET scan to learn how bad my just-discovered melanoma is.  :'(

The sun is no joke; I've shrugged off sunscreen for 59 years, please don't be like me.
Click to expand...

You've got it man. Docs have me wearing hat and long sleeved shirt......in Florida...in the summer....let us know and I hope its not bad.
 
And my wife wondered why I spend more time INdoors than out,  Even though I would love to be out more. (But she did not know that) Grew up outdoors.  Figured I used up my allotment of anti-sun-caused-cancer then.
 
Prayers sent.
Best wishes and hope all goes well.
We have family members that have had that fight.
 
BigSkyTrailerGuy, I hope the report is positive.  I'm so glad I was never a sun worshipper!  While my friends used to lie out in the sun to get tanned when we were teenagers, I always had other things to do.  I try to be careful, but even so, probably should try harder.  Thanks for the reminder and we'll be thinking of you.

ArdraF
 
I am a melanoma cancer survivor.  6 1/2 years clear.  I had a nodular melanoma - the most aggressive kind - on my left upper arm.  Had the spot 4 months and it was in 4 lymph nodes.  Had a left axillary lymph node dissection.  Radiation treatments to the area.  M D Anderson in Houston, TX.  I definitely know how you feel.  Just try to be positive.  If you need to talk, e-mail me at [email protected]

Gina
 
My husband had a couple of melanomas taken off his arm 2 years ago, they think they got it all.  So far so good, but we worried.  He works in the tropics and does wear long sleeve shirts, the other day we were looking at the skin around his ears, I got him some 50 sunscreen.

Take care and hope it all goes well for you.  At least you caught it and are taking care of it.  My best.
 
We haven't heard back from BigSkyTrailerGuy.  I hope he's doing okay.

Right after I read the above discussion we received the July 2014 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.  This issue features information on sunscreens and it has some interesting facts.  Consumer Reports has been testing sunscreens since the 1930s.

The sun is doing more skin damage since the early half of the 20th Century because of the earth's ozone layer depleting and, therefore, providing less protection to our skin.  The UVA and UVB rays are more likely to cause skin damage because we're getting more of them than we did 50 years ago.

More than half the people CR queried skip sunscreen and the number increases to 61 percent for those over the age of 60.

Caucasian men have a 1 in 35 lifetime chance of developing melanoma and women have a 1 in 54 lifetime chance of getting it.

"By age 40 you've racked only half of your lifetime dose of UV rays; by age 60, just 74 percent."

"If you're over 50 your body begins to lose its ability to repair the cell damage created by the sun's rays, making you more susceptible to skin cancer....At the same time your immune system, which plays a major role in halting the growth of skin cancers, weakens."

Most melanomas are diagnosed in people between 55 and 64.

ArdraF

 
Had to have one taken off my left hand - Fortunately the Dr. got it all - All I have left is a very unnoticeable scar.  Lived in Florida from the time I was 13 to 55 - Boating, swimming, golfing, etc.  Never paid any attention to the sun or sunscreen - I am one of the lucky ones!!  Now I am more careful (shut the barn door after the horse was gone LOL)
 
Thanks so much to all for the good thoughts.

Immediately after the Dr apt, we went boondocking for five days.

Fortunately my PET scan was, as the surgeon put it, "unremarkable"... but next week I'm in for a sentinel node biopsy surgery, and he's going to take a plug of my scalp off, like the top of a jack-o-lantern.  Later I plan to buy a beanie with a propeller, and no one will suspect a thing.

I realize I'm on the Titanic, and we've left port... Now my job is to try to convince the Captain to take his ship on a much more southern route..

thanks again, y'all.
 
Sending prayers, happy thoughts, wishes and hope for your getting better, If you keep your spirits up your body will follow.

It seems most of us on this forum have gone thru a health issue of some type, I noticed that when my spirit failed so did my health so I tried to keep them up consistently. The last things I remember before surgery was giving a fist to the nurse and saying "let the games begin". My wife said as they wheeled me in I gave her a sign we have for "get your chit together", and off I went to the OR. You will come out of this on the winning side, I did.
 
I think your propeller beanie will make quite a fashion statement with no one the wiser!  :D :D  Seriously, think positive thoughts and KNOW that you're going to make it just fine.  That's half the battle.

ArdraF

 
Not fun.  My brother-in-law has had so many of them that he's part of a Stanford study.  And he has always been very careful about UV.

I grew up in Southern Cal and got so sunburned that my nose would crack and bleed all summer long.  It was before sunscreens were invented.  I haven't progressed to melenoma but I've had so many chunks frozen off me you'd think I was an arctic explorer.  When I go to my dernmatologist I ask them to just leave me alone in the room with the liquid nitrogen for a few minutes and I'll take care of it.  They always insist it has to be them!  (something about actually going to medical school.....)

I think they actually make propeller hats with a soalr cell so the propeller spins.  That's the ultimate in 'geek'.

Good luck with the biopsies and follow the doctors orders.
 
Update:  I had my surgery last week to remove a tuft of my scalp that surrounded the m-noma, and my sentinel lymph nodes back of my neck yanked, all out for biopsies.

Disturbing call this AM from the nurse letting me know the node biopsy was positive, and now I'm about to be introduced to the local Oncology gang.

It's the unknown that's terrifying.  I appreciate your thoughts, everyone.  Know that I return prayers in spades! 
 
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