Blogmas! (Day 15) Another Early Christmas Present to Myself

This Blogmas post is going to be a bit different. We’re going to get a little serious here. I titled this Another Early Christmas Present to Myself because I was going to wait until the first of the year. But this is something that can’t wait, and though money is tight during the holidays, this was a gift I needed to give myself. Here’s how it went down:

A sun spot I have had on my leg for about 7-8 years started to change. At first it developed redness around the top edge, and looked a bit larger. Then within a week, the entire spot was red and itchy. Then a few days later it definitely grew in size and was a dark red.  The photos don’t really show just how dark red it was, but it looked like a blood blister.

During all this spot changing, I was googling like crazy to see if I should be worried or if I should wait until the first of the year when my health insurance kicks in. The answer was a no. The spot would not look the same if it was split in half, it had grown significantly in size and was a deep red in color. It went from a light tan freckle color to blood red in less than two weeks.

I headed to the dermatologist on Friday, December 1st at 9:30am.

The doctor could not say anything other than there was definite cause for concern because of its fast progression. She did a punch biopsy, which removed the entire spot from the inside out, stitched me up with three stitches on the inside of my leg and three on the outside and sent me on my way with instructions to return on December 15th to have the stitches removed.

The biopsy results would take a week, however, the dermatologist called me a few days later with the results:

Precancerous, but the biopsy removed it all.

When I got the call, I was at work, sitting at a poker table. We’re not supposed to be on our phones at the table, but this qualified as a call to take no matter what. After I hung up, I almost started crying because I hadn’t slept in weeks and now I could stop worrying. Under normal circumstances family is the first to find out these things, however, since I was at work and sitting on a poker table,  all my players and coworkers were the first to know. 🙂 I can’t even begin to describe how overjoyed I was, and still am, with the outcome. ❤

My message to you is DO NOT WAIT. If you notice something funny, even a slight change, DO NOT WAIT to have it checked. I had three spots checked and the other two were nothing. Even better if it turns out to be absolutely nothing. Please know that melanoma is a fast and aggressive cancer. Who knows what the outcome would have been had I waited a couple more months? The spot had changed so quickly in a 2 week period that had I waited, I don’t want to think about it because I didn’t wait. And the spot was removed. And those precancerous cells are no longer there.

This would qualify as the best early Christmas present to myself EVER.

❤ Cherilyn 

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