news

It's easy to think you have it rough until you hear of someone who has it worse.

Today was my follow-up appointment with the doctor to talk about this skin cancer on my chin. However, today was also the day I got the news that one of my aunts has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and will be going in to have the tumor removed next week.

According to my cousin, they caught it early and are hoping the surgery plus radiation will take care of everything. They are not planning on chemo at this point. The prognosis looks good.

Still, what a kick in the gut to find out you have breast cancer. I just have this little spot of skin cancer, but getting the diagnosis knocked the wind out of my sails for a few days. I can't imagine what it would be like to be told you have something much more serious…

Praying for her, that's for sure.

As for me, my news is basically good. This type of cancer won't metastasize (spread to any other parts of my body—I am embarrassed to admit I had to look that word up!) but it is malignant, which means it's growing. So it must be dealt with. The doc was not in too much of a hurry, but thought sometime in the next 3 to 6 weeks would be good.

Since the surgery will require some finesse (kindly, the doctor is concerned about scarring since the spot to be cut out is on my face) we will need to travel to a neighboring country where better health facilities are available. It will take a bit of work to plan this trip, research hospitals, and make appointments over the internet. But we should be able to get it done within a month or so.

So that's my news. All in all I'm grateful. Although the doctor did express a bit of concern that I have developed this at such a young age. (Of course, then he looked at my chart, did the math, and said, "Well–almost forty. I guess that's not that young… ) (Thanks a lot.) But he did ask me to be vigilant about watching for more trouble spots. Sigh.

Next step: tell my mom. Double sigh.