Ten years ago, I had a clear protusion removed from the bottom of my leg.
Since that time, it's turned in to a mole.
Last year, I had the mole looked at because it fit the bill of "ABCD" and the dermatologist said it was nothing. I was so surprised! I think I even posted a vague Facebook status that day, something like, "It was nothing! Doctor says I'm cancer free!" while in disbelief. I couldn't believe it.
At about the same time, we got the news that unlike what our initial orders read, we'd be moving from our southern home 2 years earlier than planned - that summer.
We were not only moving, but we were moving to the north. I was so afraid because it gets so cold. Many forms of government service (my parents', my own) have kept me in pretty warm climes, deserts even (doggonit!) and my blood has verifiably thinned. I will argue with any doctor about that!
But I also did not want to leave my neighborhood or the pool, or the kids' school and teachers....
Fast forward to this spring. I'd been hibernating for approximately 7 months, unlike my southern lifestyle. I spend a bit more time on Facebook, okay?
So, I read something one of my Usborne book customers had posted to her wall. It was a farewell to her precious friend, and the blog was her friend's record of her prior year. I read the blog, in detail, because this friend of my Facebook friend was my age.
She was 38.
She was 38, yet gone from this earth and with her heavenly Father. From melanoma.
So my mole on my leg had been poo-poo'd as an issue last year, but I still had a couple of issues this spring - one, with a pyogenic something-something growing out of my neck (really gross! It was like the alien from Spaceballs!), and then after that was done, several hemangiomas grew in the same spot.
The combination of the pyogenic-whatever and the hemangiomas have made this an extended scarf season for me. So in and out of the doctor as I was, and having read that blog, I finally decided to mention that "nothing" mole on my leg to the doctor. Since I was there, anyway.
"Oh that comes out. I can get you to a dermatologist ASAP or I can take it out. Either way I am not comfortable with that being there."
Because of my neck issues, I scheduled the dermatologist. Same reaction. She said, "We like for our patients to stick around town after removing skin issues so we can help in case of infection. But even though you are traveling all of June, I am going to say we need to remove this now. I am not comfortable with that being there any longer than it has to be."
Huge old hole punch, and it was out. Great big scar on my leg. Thank goodness I'm already married.
But it could have been worse. I got the phone call while I was traveling: it was indeed melanoma in situ - which means superficial melanoma, but melanoma nonetheless. The doctor was "relieved, because we don't have to call an oncologist, but it was melanoma like I suspected."
Thank you, God, for removing me from the sun. I never thought I would say that, but because we moved last summer, I didn't spend the summer at the pool. Because we moved to a cold place, I barely ever had shorts on - all pants and long skirts. Because we moved up here, I believe the disease on my leg may have been stopped in its tracks. And because we moved, I had to find a different dermatologist, and the dermatologist was thankfully aggressive. Yes, I am thanking God every day for this unexpected move north.
The next step is to cut a half centimeter around the site of excision to verify it has not spread. I will be doing that in the end of July.
Back to the one thing I have in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The woman who wrote this blog that scared me into action, this blessed lady who spent her last year documenting her battle with melanoma, you have to know, was a career communicator. Julie Soderlund actually worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carly Fiorina as their communications director.
Yet, I count her as my own communications director. This woman's gift of communication verified my intuition that something was wrong. It's incredible the signs our bodies are trying to give us that we yet ignore. I am not sure I would have been sufficiently scared enough to ask a doctor about the mole again if it hadn't been for the clarity in her blog. I honestly blindly trust doctors - and in this case had even ignored my intuition. Julie's words confirmed for me I must do something.
Like Arnold, I am indebted to her. I am indebted to her not for my career, though, but for my life at the moment. To be in the position I am in, to have a chance to cut everything out before it spreads anywhere, I feel like I owe it to this woman.
#TeamSoderlund
Awaiting the end of July,
Wendy
Since that time, it's turned in to a mole.
Last year, I had the mole looked at because it fit the bill of "ABCD" and the dermatologist said it was nothing. I was so surprised! I think I even posted a vague Facebook status that day, something like, "It was nothing! Doctor says I'm cancer free!" while in disbelief. I couldn't believe it.
At about the same time, we got the news that unlike what our initial orders read, we'd be moving from our southern home 2 years earlier than planned - that summer.
We were not only moving, but we were moving to the north. I was so afraid because it gets so cold. Many forms of government service (my parents', my own) have kept me in pretty warm climes, deserts even (doggonit!) and my blood has verifiably thinned. I will argue with any doctor about that!
But I also did not want to leave my neighborhood or the pool, or the kids' school and teachers....
Fast forward to this spring. I'd been hibernating for approximately 7 months, unlike my southern lifestyle. I spend a bit more time on Facebook, okay?
So, I read something one of my Usborne book customers had posted to her wall. It was a farewell to her precious friend, and the blog was her friend's record of her prior year. I read the blog, in detail, because this friend of my Facebook friend was my age.
She was 38.
She was 38, yet gone from this earth and with her heavenly Father. From melanoma.
So my mole on my leg had been poo-poo'd as an issue last year, but I still had a couple of issues this spring - one, with a pyogenic something-something growing out of my neck (really gross! It was like the alien from Spaceballs!), and then after that was done, several hemangiomas grew in the same spot.
The combination of the pyogenic-whatever and the hemangiomas have made this an extended scarf season for me. So in and out of the doctor as I was, and having read that blog, I finally decided to mention that "nothing" mole on my leg to the doctor. Since I was there, anyway.
"Oh that comes out. I can get you to a dermatologist ASAP or I can take it out. Either way I am not comfortable with that being there."
Because of my neck issues, I scheduled the dermatologist. Same reaction. She said, "We like for our patients to stick around town after removing skin issues so we can help in case of infection. But even though you are traveling all of June, I am going to say we need to remove this now. I am not comfortable with that being there any longer than it has to be."
Huge old hole punch, and it was out. Great big scar on my leg. Thank goodness I'm already married.
But it could have been worse. I got the phone call while I was traveling: it was indeed melanoma in situ - which means superficial melanoma, but melanoma nonetheless. The doctor was "relieved, because we don't have to call an oncologist, but it was melanoma like I suspected."
Thank you, God, for removing me from the sun. I never thought I would say that, but because we moved last summer, I didn't spend the summer at the pool. Because we moved to a cold place, I barely ever had shorts on - all pants and long skirts. Because we moved up here, I believe the disease on my leg may have been stopped in its tracks. And because we moved, I had to find a different dermatologist, and the dermatologist was thankfully aggressive. Yes, I am thanking God every day for this unexpected move north.
The next step is to cut a half centimeter around the site of excision to verify it has not spread. I will be doing that in the end of July.
Back to the one thing I have in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The woman who wrote this blog that scared me into action, this blessed lady who spent her last year documenting her battle with melanoma, you have to know, was a career communicator. Julie Soderlund actually worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carly Fiorina as their communications director.
Yet, I count her as my own communications director. This woman's gift of communication verified my intuition that something was wrong. It's incredible the signs our bodies are trying to give us that we yet ignore. I am not sure I would have been sufficiently scared enough to ask a doctor about the mole again if it hadn't been for the clarity in her blog. I honestly blindly trust doctors - and in this case had even ignored my intuition. Julie's words confirmed for me I must do something.
Like Arnold, I am indebted to her. I am indebted to her not for my career, though, but for my life at the moment. To be in the position I am in, to have a chance to cut everything out before it spreads anywhere, I feel like I owe it to this woman.
#TeamSoderlund
Awaiting the end of July,
Wendy
Blessings to you Wendy! I thank God for your ability to communicate your experience. You never know who you might impact. Dominica
ReplyDeleteDominica - I am trying to pay it forward. I am so grateful to Julie's blog and mastery of words - it left an impact on me I couldn't shake!
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