Five and a half years ago, I went in for a skin check and was told that I had melanoma, even before the biopsy came back. The physician’s assistant knew it when she saw it on the front of my lower leg.
Where did the dark brown mole come from? True, I’d been doing lots of weeding outside in shorts to get my legs tanned for summer. It was the end of summer, and I had to have surgery right away. Those stitches hurt for a week when I stood up.
The surgeon took a five-inch cut around the melanoma and then pulled the skin back together and sewed me up. She left a bump, telling me it would flatten out as the skin healed. She said it would keep the scar from indenting inward. She was right. That is what happened.
Now, all this time later, the scar isn’t noticeable, but the pulled skin left my leg looking kind of wonky.
Then I had a basal cell carcinoma in my cleavage and another one above my eyelid. Two more surgeries later, I gave away most of my shorts, sleeveless tops, and short dresses. It’s okay. I’m of the age where I can wear long granny dresses, since I have a grandson.
What a surprise three days ago when I got out the shower at my beach house and noticed a dark mole in my nether region area. Where did that come from? Then I realized I was scheduled for a skin check three days from now. The universe was screaming at me. I’m so glad, because the bathroom mirror in my regular house is too high, and I never see my nakedness below the waist. When I look down at my body, this is not something I would’ve ever seen since I don’t do bikini waxes.
Thank goodness for serendipity. On Wednesday, I will have my female physician assistant take a look. I’ve done a selfie and enlarged it. It doesn’t look like a normal mole to me. It has a jagged edge on one side, and it’s two tones of brown and not symmetrical — three signs of skin cancer. She wouldn’t have noticed it at the last skin check six months ago, because it’s under my underwear, and she usually doesn’t look too thoroughly down there.
A friend got skin cancer on his penis, so there you go.
If you haven’t looked at all of your skin in a while, and if you have pale skin, pale eyes, lots of freckles or moles, Northern European ancestry, or you love green beer, you should have a skin check, either by your primary physician or a dermatologist.
These are the signs to look for in a mole:
A = asymmetrical, not perfectly round
B = border, not smooth but jagged, can be partly smooth but jagged in places
C = color. If it’s super dark brown, not good.
D = diameter. Is it bigger than a pencil eraser on the end of pencil? Not good.
There’s one more, but I can’t remember what it is.
I am so glad I finally noticed the elusive mole, or maybe it hasn’t been there that long.
Melanoma is fast.
Don’t wait.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 