40 Stitches or More Fun in the Sun? Time to Grab the Sunscreen and a Floppy Hat to Fight Skin Cancer
If you ever needed a reason to slather on the sunscreen and cover up from the sun, one look at my face today should be it.
By most standards, I’m no beauty queen, but I’m not terribly ugly, either. However, today, half my face is swollen and bruised from the surgery I had yesterday to remove skin cancer from the section of my face in front of my left ear.
There are now nearly 40 stitches stretching from where my eyebrow sits to the bottom of my ear.
As I type this, the entire left half of my head is throbbing and feels like someone has ripped my ear off, or, what I imagine that would feel like since that’s never actually happened to me. Bottom line, it hurts. A lot. Like the kind of hurt you feel when you want to string together every bad word in the book, but have to bite your tongue because you are trying to set a good example for your kids, which really only makes it hurt more because you want to be a kid in times like these, and have your mom come take care of you. But I didn’t call my mom to come take care of me because, well, I’m in my 40s and supposed to be able to take care of myself and because I honestly didn’t think removing a mole would be a huge deal. But this mole was one I ignored for years.
It just didn’t seem like a big deal. Apparently, ignoring a mole isn’t the same as ignoring a whiny child. It doesn’t go away, or get better eventually. Instead, it could end up growing and eating away at the tissue around it, so that when your surgeon does finally go to remove it, instead of a section the size of a pea or a pearl, he has to cut away something the size of a fifty cent piece.
Yep, that’s the size mine ended up being by the time I dealt with it. I promise, it didn’t look that big on the surface. Lesson learned.
I’m not complaining about the pain…well, actually I am, but I’m equally hurting over the notion that I’m going to have to make some changes when it comes to being outdoors.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved the sun. My all time favorite thing to do is to float on my back in the ocean, letting the world dissolve on the shore. There’s nothing more amazing to me than feeling the sun on my face, the water holding me up in its embrace.
As a child growing up on the coast, my family spent all day at the beach. Every weekend we could. And all summer, too. My sisters and I would get a sunburn the first weekend, then literally peel the skin off each other’s backs. We thought people with pale skin had some horrible sickness. Tan equaled healthy in our minds.
Sure, through the years I heard the studies about skin damage and skin cancer and all the other great reasons to stay out of the sun, but when you’re a beach baby who finds her greatest joy in the water, or playing on the shore, you tell yourself it’s worth the risk. Plus, it’ll never happen to you.
Well, I’m living proof that it will. And as much as I hurt right now, I’m told in a few months, nobody will be able to tell that these stitches stretched down my face. I’m one of the lucky ones because my kind of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, is nothing compared to squamous cell carcinoma, or melanoma. The doctors know they got all of the ‘bad tissue’ out and the cancer is gone from this area now. But things are going to have to change.
I’m going to have to load up on the sunscreen, and then reload each hour that I’m outside. I’m going to have to cover up some more. I’m not going to get to fall asleep on my towel, baking in the sunshine. I’m going to have to wear a big floppy hat. But, I promise, I’m going to rock that big floppy hat, because no part of me wants to feel what I felt yesterday as my face was being sliced open. And I certainly don’t want that for you, either. So, as you head to that place in the sun where you find your happy, please pack your big, floppy hat, too, along with the sunscreen.
**A friend mentioned a cool new hat that also can be rolled up and packed. Check it out here.
May 23, 2014 @ 10:48 am
That sounds so painful. I hope your recovery is speedy! We’re headed to the Bahamas on Sunday, and I am definitely packing several bottles of sunscreen. I never really wore it as a child or teen. I’m so glad our schools and daycare centers request that parents send sunscreen along with their kids!
May 23, 2014 @ 1:36 pm
I agree completely! I see this kind of like the seatbelt laws…when I grew up, we weren’t required to be buckled in, but they now know we are better off wearing them. We need to use the same mentality with sunscreen.
May 23, 2014 @ 1:10 pm
Ouch! I am so sorry that you are going through this. My parents and grandparents have had so many skin cancers removed. I’m a bit surprised that I wasn’t raised to really protect my skin at all. I’m super diligent with my daughter’s skincare though. Somewhere, I read that a childhood burn can really leave a child more prone to developing skin cancers as an adult! Thanks for the reminder! I hope you heal quickly and can move on to other, less painful badassery.
May 23, 2014 @ 1:34 pm
Autumn–I have also heard that the damage is already done…because we did bake during our childhood–but I don’t want to risk doing further damage after dealing with this. Thanks for the kind wishes.
May 23, 2014 @ 2:18 pm
This is so timely, Des – sending it to my hubby right now. He has some basal cell carcinoma on his face, too, and is using a “chemo cream” – well, I should say is SUPPOSED to be using it. He keeps putting it off because “he has so much going on!” Hoping this motivates him to get serious! Praying for you and your recovery, my friend – so glad they were able to get it all! <3
May 23, 2014 @ 2:32 pm
I love your hat, and I will be sporting mine this weekend too! Mine’s white and awesome just like you for sharing this with everyone! XO
May 23, 2014 @ 3:10 pm
I just had an excision as well, on my abdomen. A mole I also ignored for a long time – as in years. Lab showed benign, but “severe” on the abnormal scale. It was a matter of time. So I am sporting a new scar as well. It wasn’t even a place that got sun, but I’m extra vigilant about sunscreen now. I’m not too young to have these issues! Reality check. Thanks for sharing your story.
May 25, 2014 @ 10:22 pm
Thanks for sharing Desiree. Sun can be so damaging and its nice to be reminded how important it is to take better care of our skin.
May 28, 2014 @ 8:44 am
Love you Des! Keeping you in my prayers (DKraft)
May 28, 2014 @ 8:52 am
Thanks D…stitches are supposed to come out today. Have to admit, I hated sitting outside with a big hat on my head last weekend. First, it’s hot. Second, I just love the sun on my face. Guess I have to get used to my new reality.
May 28, 2014 @ 10:18 am
You looked fabulous!
Sunburn Protection with Brain Fitness Sunscreen Fun - Traveling Mom
April 3, 2016 @ 8:28 am
[…] came across #TMOM Desiree Miller and her personal blog which Traveling Mom was kind enough to post HERE and is a good reminder of the scary reasons we should protect our kids while having fun in the sun. […]