After being diagnosed with breast cancer, I became more aware of what I put into my body and how I treated it. I also began to think about all the time I've spent in the sun without sunblock and countless hours laying in a tanning bed. I'm fairly dark complected naturally, so it doesn't take a lot for me to have a great tan, but I was always reaching for just a little darker, a little more color, etc. Tanning made me feel good about myself and how I looked. It becomes somewhat of an addiction.
After being diagnosed, I obviously couldn't tan all winter. I didn't even care to. A tan was the last thing I cared about. But, after my treatments ended and winter turned to spring, I found myself noticing how pale I was. I had a trip to the beach planned for the first week of June, and I was excited to soak up some sun. I did use sunblock while I was there, but this was pretty much the first time in my life I had applied sunblock. I still got very dark while I was there even though I used sunblock. But, while I was laying in the sun soaking up some Vitamin D, I kept having a nagging thought in my head: I need to have all these moles and marks checked on my body. This thought had been on my mind the entire time I was going through treatment, but I knew I couldn't get moles removed while on chemo. Chemo slows down your body's ability to heal itself, so I had promised myself I would get a full body check as soon as I was done. As I lay there in sun, my eyes kept being drawn to two flat, black moles on my stomach just above my belly button. For some reason, I kept getting a strange feeling about them.
The larger mole on my right side had been there for over 10 years. The one to the left of it was smaller, but it had cropped up about four years ago. The photo below is a photo I took at the beach in June. You can see the two flat, black moles just above my belly button.
I finally made the appointment to get a full body check in early July. I saw the doctor about a week ago, and he removed four moles. He removed one beneath my right arm, one from my right hip, and one from my left should blade. These were all raised moles that were a nuisance to me, and I requested to have them removed. He wasn't concerned about them, but they would be sent to the lab nonetheless. He was immediately drawn to the smaller flat, black mole on my stomach that had cropped up four years ago. He removed it as well. The larger mole next to it was a perfect circle, but the one he removed had funny shaped edges. He removed the mole by numbing the area then using a razor blade to cut the mole out. Yes, it left a small hole in my stomach, but that will heal.
I received the call on Tuesday regarding my biopsy results. As suspected, the nuisance moles were nothing. The one removed from my stomach was A-Typical. This means the cells within the mole had begun to cluster together. This is often the behavior of a mole before it turns into skin cancer. Luckily, there were no cancer cells found; but that may not have been the prognosis had I waited to get it removed or not went at all. The behavior of this mole indicated it would have become skin cancer had i left it intact. They said there were clean margins around the mole, so they "got it all" and I did not need to return to have more removed.
That nagging feeling I've felt for months to get checked out turned out to be something that prevented a future issue. I had this same nagging feeling when I had a lump in my breast; but I brushed it off as a cyst and ignored it for months. Had I listened to this nagging feeling from the start, my breast cancer could have been caught at a much earlier stage. If there is one thing I've learned, it's to follow your instincts and that nagging feeling.
I think about how as a parent, I nag my children to do something they need to do. I truly believe those nagging thoughts we can't seem to shake is God making sure we pay attention and listen. As a parent, he truly wants the best for us, and his love is without end. The next time you have one of those feelings you can't shake, thank God, your loving father in heaven, and follow up on that feeling. You are having it for reason.
Finally, use sunblock and visit the tanning beds sparingly or not at all. I say sparingly because I know how hard it is not to visit occasionally to maintain some color. Just beware of tanning multiple times a week. A tan isn't worth dying for!
God Bless!
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