A quick update -- I had my skin cancer surgery yesterday. It all went fine.
As you might remember, I was diagnosed a few weeks ago with Basal Cell Carcinoma on the top of my head. Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in the United States. It is generally not very aggressive, though if it goes untreated, it can cause problems. Mine was caught pretty quickly (I see my dermatologist every 6 months for this exact reason).
I've written about this before, but my skin cancer likely came because of a combination of things -- my own carelessness when I was young, leading to multiple bad sunburns, plus having a cancer of the immune system, plus getting a treatment that messes with my immune system. That perfect storm of factors probably all contributed to the cancer. It happens to about 1 in 10 FL patients, roughly.
So, as far as the surgery goes, it was both fast and slow. The fast part was the actual surgery. I had the basal cell carcinoma removed with Mohs Surgery, which is common for skin cancers. Basically, the surgeon removes a thin layer of skin, and then checks it for cancer cells. If there are cells present, then they remove another layer and check that. And they keep going until there are no more cancer cells present. It's an effective and less-invasive surgery than some others, since they are able to work on only the areas that have cancer cells present.
So the incising part was fast -- maybe 5 minutes. But then came the slow part -- bring the sample to an in-house lab and going through the process of finding the cancer cells. That took about 90 minutes. They told me to bring a lunch and something to keep me occupied, since it could take a while if I had multiple layers to remove. I brought some work with me, thinking I'd be productive. But I ended up in the regular waiting room, which wasn't too conducive to the work I had brought. So I did some reading instead. The time passed OK.
After the first round, the surgeon said there was one more area with cancer cells, but he was confident that he could get them all on one shot. So he did some more work, then stitched me up and sent me home. He said if he found more cancer (which he didn't think was likely), he'd let me know. I didn't get a call within a couple of hours, so I'm clear.
I've had a little bit of pain, but nothing that some Tylenol hasn't taken care of. So it hasn't been too horrible an experience. Cancer is always serious, and surgery is never fun. But I'm doing OK. I did that work I had hoped to do when I got home.
It was, in the end, a fairly small incision, covered by a fairly big bandage:
So, as always, the lesson here is -- take care of yourself. Go to your doctor appointments. Do whatever tests and preventative and diagnostic procedures that you are supposed to. I know those of you reading are cancer patients and caregivers -- you take this stuff seriously. Remind the people that you love and make sure they take it seriously, too.
Take care, everyone. More soon on that other cancer that we are all so interested in.
Interesting that they did a Moh’s in that location. I’ve had an SCC removed from my cheek (pre-diagnosis, Moh’s), a BCC removed from the top of my shoulder (post-diagnosis, non-Moh’s), and this Friday I’m getting a second SCC removed from my nose (also Moh’s). I’ve also had half a dozen or so large actinic keratoses (which can become SCCs if left untreated) frozen off my legs and hands, and my dermatologist said they’re a direct consequence of treatment.
ReplyDeleteSince 2016, my wife FL POD24 has had ~15 basal cell cancers removed, some by MOHS, others by scrape and burn. Like you, see visits her dermatologist every 6 months.
ReplyDeleteIn the past ten years I've had four melanomas removed, each one was in-situ, not requirering further excision or treatment. The scars are always large/long, thankfully none on my face. They've been on both arms, upper thigh and neck. Being an irish, freckled skin person made me susceptible to this along with my lymphoma.
ReplyDeleteBob, did your ANC ever recover? Last time I spoke to you, I was going through chemo and immune therapy drugs. My ANC and counts are still half of normal as I approach three years of remission. Still dealing with sores in my mouth that are chronic. I have a CT scan coming as these sores are getting out of hand and causing a lot of pain while I talk. I should start looking into a derm like you.
ReplyDeletePaul
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteStill love reading your posts 10 years after my diagnosis. I had r-chop and 18 months rituximab maintenance for my fl back in 2013. Your blog has been so helpful in dealing with my diagnosis, and I am so thankful. Anyway, the reason for my message. I have had many BCCs and SCCs removed over the years- too many to mention. I live on the Sunshine Coast in Australia so that might explain something. Anyway, I thought I would mention that both my skin specialist and skin doctor told me that "Vitamin B3 500mg daily has been proven in clinical trials to reduce bccs (sccs also I think) by 30% or even more." Just thought I would bring that to your attention. Stay well and thanks again for the informative, and entertaining blogs.
Ian
Hi Paul. Sorry to hear you're still having trouble, and I hope you can find some kind of relief. If your oncologist doesn't have suggestions, I would guess a derm would be the next step. My ANC did eventually recover fortunately, and have been at OK levels. I didn't have chemo like you, so that might have something to do with it. The Rituxan I had does have long-term side effects, but my lower counts did eventually recover. It's a long road, being a survivor. I hope things get better soon.
ReplyDeleteBob
Hi Ian. Thanks for writing, and thanks for being such a long time reader! I see my derm every 6 months, and I regularly have 4 or 5 actinic keratoses frozen off of my head and hands. I think about a year ago, one of them turned into a SCC (which is the danger with those if left untreated). I say "I think" because it was small and the derm biopsied it, and I think the biopsy removed it. But that's unofficial. The BCC definitely official, and I'm sure I'll be deal ing with more of them from here on. I haven't heard about B3, but I will do some research. Thanks for the tip. And I hope you continue to stay well.
ReplyDeleteBob