Watch out for that sunshine, folks-WARNING!!! GRAPHIC!!!


Mountain Ron

Mountain Ron

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Big Bend area of north Florida
I'm posting this for your consideration of the fact that too much sun is bad for you. I neither want or need pity. This is about health and my example may wake up your awareness. I have been dealing with skin cancer for a few years and for a while there have been no new episodes. Two weeks ago I went to my dermatologist for a quarterly checkup and he found a tiny spot on my nose. A biopsy and sure enough, basal cell cancer. Not a "bad" one like melanoma but cancer none the less. Last night, thats right Sunday nite-the specialist team comes to Hanford once a month to take care of a several county wide clientele and Sunday is good because everyone can make it and little traffic and such-I underwent 2 hours of surgery. It was all local anesthetic and the team is well known for a very high success rate. The doctor and his assistants come up from San Diego. They use micro surgery techniques and have a portable lab that in 15 minutes gives them the results as in "did we get all of it?" It took them 5 tries to clear me and they had to break my nose to get to a root that was between my nasal passage and the bone right at the cartilage line. After all the cutting and about 20 stitches I went home about 7 o'clock. I didn't feel a thing but about 10 last nite I was one hurting unit!
My reason for this post? When I was in the Army I did lot of work in high altitude and desert areas. These are the kinds of places where the sun is really bright and does the most damage. At altitude there is little atmosphere to filter out those nasty UV rays which do the damage. In the desert the sunlight is reflected from every direction. We would run around with no shirts and a lot of times no hats. I'm paying now for my fun in the sun. Back then we didn't know about sun block and protection like we know today. Please be careful and take care of yourselves. Its simple to wear a wide brim hat and long sleeves to protect your skin and of course sun block. You don't really want this to happen to you do you?

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By the way most of the folks there were older than me, in their 60's to 80's but there were quite a few young folks there. One girl of about 20 came out with half her face bandaged. She had been talking to my wife earlier about how she did the tanning bed routine every day. Yikes!
 
Sorry for the pain this has caused you Ron, glad to hear it was not worse. Here's to speedy recovery and may your cancer subside.

When I was in Dental Laboratory School, Facial Prostheses was to be my specialty as some skin cancers require the removal of much tissue at times. This renders some folks faces completely un-recognizable in some cases. Aggressive treatment can leave others with minor malformations but makes them quite conscientious of their appearance. Skin Cancer is serious in all forms for sure. Thanks for the reminder!
 
Oh yeah bro, bad stuff!

I wear a hat whenever I go out. I had half-mantle radiation with my chemo for Hodgekins some years ago, so I have to be careful. I'm also on a medication that makes me sick if I get too much sun. Summertime exposure is like 15 minutes before I go down. Lotsa sunscreen and wide brim hats!
 
I'm glad it wasn't something more serious and that it was taken care of quickly. Thanks for posting this, sometimes it takes something like this to remind us to the precautions we often overlook.
 
Hey Gryph, I had a nasty time with sun reaction to my antibiotics once. My hands got these huge blisters all over them. I was freaked out and went to the docs and he said "oh, the pharmacist should have put a warning sticker on the bottle." I'm glad it was just that and not something serious. I was at high altitude when it happened so the high UV did its thing.
 
I'm glad to hear they got it took care of. Prayers for it to stay gone. I had a squamous cell carcinoma took off in the summer and it's back. The doc didn't get it all the first time. Here's a pic of when I got home. I feel for you Bru. Take care for a few days.





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I hesitate to show this, but.....


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I ignored place on nose until very late. Not much fun. As was said, stay out of sun, wear hat, and please, if you have a suspect place, don't wait!

Ches
 
Man Sugg, what a reminder. My Great Grandmother was similar to yours, except they removed all of the soft tissue to her upper lip and most of her nasal conchae above her hard and soft palate.
 
That's IT!!! that's it...poison ivy couldn't do it, mosquitoes couldn't do it, SNAKES couldn't do it....But that photo there did it.....I'm giving up the bush and taking up knitting!!! Indoors, fake light, no UV!!! Dang Ches.....
 
Thanks for sharing guys. I started wearing a boonie hat more than the ball cap this year and been making the kids do so too...

Prayers sent for healing.
 
Don't forget sunglasses if you're in a really bright environment! I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from the very edge of my eyelid (right where the eyelid contacts the eye). I'd always been pretty good about hats, shirts, etc, but forgot the sunglasses in the desert... oops! 7 years out now, and nothing else has shown up though.. really makes you pay close attention to your skin!
 
You are not alone in your fight, this fair skinned Mick suffers too.

I always wonder how many radar operators have ended up with facial cancer as well. Staring into those screens, especially the old ones, had to give a good dose of radiation over time. I’m sure a lot of the men who were subjected to atomic blast training in the 40’s and 50’s must have ended up in trouble latter in life as well.

Stay strong!

Wolf
 
owww..... that looks painfull...

My wife had something similar on her back earlier this year. Had to have 2 deep surgeries in order to get it all out.... And the warning to keep out of direct sunlight as much as possible, so no more sunbathing etc.
Now she has to come to the "dark side" and I'm no longer alone there. I do not like direct/intense sunlight or heat.....

Speedy and full recovery to all!!!
 
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Nothing wakes you up to the possibilities of skin cancer like the first time they start cutting pieces of skin off to check. Lived in the SW most of my life, only took about 20 years to learn to wear long sleeves and sunblock every time. I'd rather have pasty skin, than no skin.

Thanks for the reminder, speedy recovery.
 
Living in Brazil this is something that concerns me too. That's one of the reasons I wear a wide brim hat down there.
 
werewolf won said:
You are not alone in your fight, this fair skinned Mick suffers too.

I always wonder how many radar operators have ended up with facial cancer as well. Staring into those screens, especially the old ones, had to give a good dose of radiation over time. I’m sure a lot of the men who were subjected to atomic blast training in the 40’s and 50’s must have ended up in trouble latter in life as well.

Stay strong!

Wolf
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There was a movie I saw once called "Nightbreaker". It was about the troops who stood out in the open next to A bomb tests. Most of them suffered a lot in later years. What was Unka Sammy thinking (or most likely NOT). I worked with guys who had to stare into direction finding scopes for long periods of time and those old cathode tubes have played hell with them, too. Skin cancer and cataracts in a guy in his early 50's just seems wrong but those were the effects. I'm sure radar operators are prone to the same.
 
My wife is going through a similar situation and has surgery scheduled. :(
 
I've had Mohs surgery twice (both sides of my nose). Now I have to see the dermatologist twice a year. Usually it just involves a bit of liquid nitrogen to any scaley spotches. Sunny Arizona!
 
Hope you get well soon. My first round was m-melanoma on my belly -I'll save you the pix of the 1" wide x 7" long scar. The inner growth came 1 mm short of the lymph system- once there, translates to 3 % chance of one year survival w/o chemo 5% with chemo. That was 20+ years ago. Cause well skin diving and surfing in Hawaii. Not the radar scope that I use to stare at.
1+ hat and shirt...shirt covers both scars now and the ah insulated 6 pack.
 
Hope you heal 100% with no recurrence. I have had 6 removed, 2 on the back, 4 on face and neck. Usually basal cells. The Doc said most of the sun damage was done before age 20, but the cancers did not show up until age 50.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
I live in Texas so sun is always a problem try to keep out of it or else your fried! My grandpa lives in Arizona and has skin cancer from all the biking and hiking he does... He still bikes and he's 90 years old lol!
 
Thanks for the reminder. My uncle died from skin cancer a couple years. At the end, it had eaten holes through his nose and mouth. Being a red head with blue eyes and freckles, I've been conscious of the sun since a young child, having been burned more times than I care to remember, including a couple second degree sun burns. When I go to the woods, I always have long sleeves, long pants and wide brimmed hat. If I'm in the open, I have sun glasses on. If the UV index is above a 3, I've got sunscreen on my face.

Don't mess around with things that cause harm!

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I did a permanent change of station or PCS in Army lingo from Berlin, Germany to Fort Huachuca, AZ with much time spent at Fort Irwin, CA and 29 Palms, CA. I was whiter than white and the sudden exposure to the desert sun ate me alive. Once I got a sun burn on my back so bad it left second degree burns with huge water blisters. At times I couldn't wear a shirt and almost got an Article 15 for damaging Government property (me). My face was fried a lot, too. Now after 30 years or so I'm paying. It ain't worth the misery. The thing with skin cancer is it can go unnoticed or just plain ignored and when it really starts to bother you its usually too late or too much surgery. I knew I was in trouble after reading about it a few years ago so I kept an eye on things. Thank God!! I'm really sorry to hear of everyone's loss and suffering. Just got to be careful out there. My dermatologist told me even winter is bad if not worse because the snow reflects 100% of the UV rays upwards so hat or not, better have good SPF 50 or better sun screen.
 
My dad who is 67, has had his nose rebuilt twice and one ear rebuilt. He's also had many large chunks cut from various places on his body. Some to remove the affected skin, some for skin grafts.

Some old time literature suggests that back then, it was believed that most things like this were bacterial and fungal in their origins.
 
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