soapbox

i try hard not to get on too many soapboxes. we all have issues and causes that we care about, and that's all great. so instead of thinking of this as a soapbox, consider it more like an awareness box.

 because may is skin cancer awareness month.

 

in september of 2008 i had gone to the dermatologist to look at a weird mole on my toe that was causing my toenail to grow diagonally around the mole. that mole ended up looking fine, but as the dermatologist was explaining what to look for, my hand immediately went to the side of my face, where i had noticed a pearly looking mole had developed. the dermatologist thought it looked fishy, so he went ahead and did a biopsy.

a week later i was sitting in my classroom during my specials hour when i got a call from the dr's office telling me that my results had come back and it was a basal cell carcinoma. of course i asked what that was, i had never heard of it. "skin cancer," was the nurses short answer, "the most common form of skin cancer." and then we hung up.

as i called matt, i googled basal cell carcinoma. it is, in fact, the most common form of any cancer. it is rarely fatal, but can be disfiguring and can cause many other problems. 1 in 5 americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.

the next week something wonderful happened. i found out that addie would be coming into the world in 9 months. that was a bright spot of happiness during a trying time, not because of my bcc, but because matt's mom had been diagnosed with renal cancer.

the next week i went in for my outpatient surgery.

it wasn't really painful, but it was pretty gross, kind of like going to the dentist.

  *gross alert*

it felt like they put fish hooks into my face and were pulling my face apart with them. then they used a scalpel and cut out the cancerous cells and some of the tissue around it. a few stitches and all was well. thankfully, this was effective for me and i haven't had any problems since.

i vowed then that i would be so careful with myself and my family from then on because that is not something i'd like to experience again. 

i haven't been totally successful in my vow, but it is something that i am always aware of and i try to be careful about. 

does that mean that i stay out of the sun? no.

does that mean that i always remember sunscreen? no, not necessarily.

does that mean that i always wear a hat? no again.

i'm not perfect by any means, and i love being outside, so that's not something i could give up. 

but i try to be mindful about sunscreen, and hats, and shade, and burns. i try to be mindful about my children and their sunblock application and hats and clothing. and i always discourage tanning, especially in tanning beds.

so.

 as you go about your summer and you are tempted to skip the sunscreen, just think of the fish hooks and put it on, fortheloveofallthings. maybe, together we can bring back the milky white skin is beautiful thing.

okay there, advocated.