CN - EVERYTHING IS FINE

I had a doctor appointment this morning to look at a spot on my face I'm worried might be a little skin cancer. It's a small patch of dry skin, about 5mm x 2mm, that's hung around for about 4 weeks now. It keeps flaking off, but comes back again in a couple of hours.

The doctor looked at it, and in his opinion (I trust him, he seems to really have his shit together and actually LISTENS to me about my health) it's a solar keratosis spot, which isn't cancerous but has a chance of becoming cancerous so the best call is to remove it.

We talked about removal options:
- freezing, which is quicker and easier, but will leave scarring
- flourouracil cream, which is a chemotherapy cream, you apply it for 4 weeks to induce an exfoliative stage where the area sloughs off - it's unpleasant and looks red, sore, and weepy (and fucking ugly, he showed me pictures) but after about 6 weeks all up there's no mark or scarring left at all.

I chose the cream, because while I'm not all that caught up in my looks.. I don't feel like I want to carry the emotional challenge that even a small facial scar might be to my mental health at the moment (which isn't so great atm tbh).

Anyways - we talked about what the spot will look like over the 4 weeks of treatment and the 2 weeks post before it clears up, and he said "look, if you're worried at all, at any point, shoot me a message with a picture or just pop in and I'll take a look and tell you you're still very pretty!"

And honestly, it was hilarious AND really nice to hear!

#doctors #Medical #health #SkinCancer #WearSunscreen #GetYourSkinChecked

Who of you remembers "The Sunscreen Song" from 1997? https://youtu.be/xfq_A8nXMsQ

I just found out the text was not written by Baz Luhrmann. But it was completely from a column of the Chicago Tribune, written by Mary Schmich. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_Sunscreen

Makes it even better :) #wearsunscreen

I rediscovered it recently, now in my 40s, and it still puts a smile on my face. It still calms me when the "what have I done and what will I do with my life" anxiety creeps into my mind. Thank you Mary Schmich.

I have added more places to #OpenStreetMap. #StreetComplete #Vespucci #openstreetmapping

Also, this time I remembered to #WearSunscreen. #Sunscreen

Another day, and I've added more places to #OpenStreetMap. #StreetComplete #Vespucci #openstreetmapping

As a side note, I should have worn sunscreen. #WearSunscreen

Was just thinking "masks are just like sunscreen now, a minor inconvenience but worth it to avoid the deadly disease." Then I realised I forgot both sunscreen AND my mask. I'll be swinging by the chemist on my way into the shops.

#CovidIsNotOver #WearSunscreen

Postscheitelsonnenbrandschuppen.

Uaaargh! 😫

Aber verdient. 😒☝️

#wearsunscreen #andahat