Three months ago I noticed that I had this strange little scratch on my chest. What was odd was that I didn’t remember scratching myself. So I slathered it with ointment each night, waiting for it to go away. No such luck – it just sat there, remaining unchanged day after day.
I have a good Dermatologist in Mumbai that I’d previously established a relationship with, so I booked an appointment with her to have the darn thing looked at. She agreed that it was strange looking and that we should do a biopsy of it. She took a small chunk of skin from the area, bandaged it up and sent me on my way. I went on with my life, not thinking about it again until I got a call back from the Doctor a week later.
She spit out some medical term for the problem area and then told me it’d be best if I got it fully removed. It wasn’t until I received the report later that I read the actual diagnosis “Superficial Basal Cell Carcinoma”. I didn’t like the ring of carcinoma (sound ominous, doesn’t it??) so I did what any 21st century gal would do, I googled it. And wouldn’t you know it, turns out that Superficial Basal Cell Carcinoma is just a fancy way of saying skin cancer.
At this point I sent the results over to our Med Unit at the Consulate and requested a consult that afternoon. It was there I learned that while it was indeed CANCER, it was more like cancer with a little “c” (read: less scary) because it was a.) slow-growing, b.) caught early, c.) easy to treat, d.) rarely recurring and e.) very common (it affects more than 3 million Americans a year).
That information improved my spirits marginally but I still couldn’t help dwelling on how ridiculous it was that I, sunscreen fanatic, had gotten skin cancer. All I can think of is that it must have been during my teen years.
After accepting the diagnosis, it was time to talk about what to do next. There was talk of flying me to DC for a second opinion and treatment. We also explored dealing with it locally. Ultimately I decided to treat it here so that Nick could be with me. My Dermatologist recommended a UK-trained surgeon that was qualified to do exacting skin excisions. I did a consult with him and felt good about both his level of expertise and his suggested plan, which was to do a basic excision (cut) with wide margins to ensure we get all the cancerous tissue. The margin is then examined under a microscope to be sure there are no cancer cells on the perimeter.
The carcinoma itself looks to be about 8 mm wide and surgeons usually take 4-6 more mm around the edges to be safe. So in total the cut will be around 16-20 mm (0.6-0.75 of an inch). I’m feeling nervous but trying not to think about it too much. Would just like to get it over with and move on.
Will update you when I’m on the other side of it. Surgery is scheduled for 8 AM Mumbai time Monday morning. That’s 7:30 PM Sunday night in PST, 9:30 PM Sunday night in CST, 10:30 PM in EST and 4:30 AM Monday Malawi time. Please send love, prayers and positive energy. Would also be curious to hear from others of you who have gone through this.
