gcruz86
New member
Scary. Glad that it was caught early.
Never forget your sunblock!
TheHeez
Well-known member
Dang v.man, that is a great post for us golfers. Good to hear you caught things early.
Coming from a family with a long history of skin issues, I take it very seriously now. After a long time of not being good about, I feel lucky to not have any major issues. Doc says keep wearing hats (flat bill for the coverage! & the win) and screen up!
Coming from a family with a long history of skin issues, I take it very seriously now. After a long time of not being good about, I feel lucky to not have any major issues. Doc says keep wearing hats (flat bill for the coverage! & the win) and screen up!
Ole Gray
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I'm currently on day 10 of the chemical peal stuff that makes your face feel like you pissed off a bunch of fire ants and they're on a mission. Vman may or may not have had to use the chemical peal.. It's no fun but it kills the pre cancer cells before they turn into the bad guys. This treatment is the third time I have had to go through this because of old damage reappearing.
golfdawg
Well-known member
keep 30 in bag at all times, being in the Carolinas, sun gets pretty hot.
My face lotion i put on every morning is 20 SPF
My face lotion i put on every morning is 20 SPF
Best of luck to you, vman, an thanks for the reminder. I have a number of friends with skin cancer issues so I try to always pally sunscreen when playing but even then i still forget sometimes, especially if the weather is nice and not hot or it is cloudy, even though I know the uv rays go right through clouds and it is jut as harmful as a bright, sunny day.
tvrepairex
Well-known member
I have been through that process once on the top of my head and your description of how it looks and feels is very accurate!
Lefty78
Have clubs, will travel
Good thread Ken, if it makes the young guys slather that stuff on, it is worth while. All most all the old guys have spots burned off on a regular basis.
Sure glad you got that melanoma early, keep us posted on follow-ups.
Bill, I haven't heard of that treatment, sounds like I need to look into it.
My doc who is also a golf buddy always tells me to use sun screen and I tell him it is probably 60 years too late for me since I spent the summers out in the sun when growing up with no hat, no shirt, and of course no sun screen. Now it is always big hats and (not often enough) sun screen. Maybe this is the year I get it on every time.
Young guys heed the V.Man's warning and maybe you won't be fighting those spots in 40-50 years.
Sure glad you got that melanoma early, keep us posted on follow-ups.
Bill, I haven't heard of that treatment, sounds like I need to look into it.
My doc who is also a golf buddy always tells me to use sun screen and I tell him it is probably 60 years too late for me since I spent the summers out in the sun when growing up with no hat, no shirt, and of course no sun screen. Now it is always big hats and (not often enough) sun screen. Maybe this is the year I get it on every time.
Young guys heed the V.Man's warning and maybe you won't be fighting those spots in 40-50 years.
- Thread starter
- #58
Okay, to close the loop on my example used to convey the message I was trying for, let me share my experience in surgery today. If you have read the thread, you know that my objective was to make people aware of the dangers of sun damage to skin if you don't religiously use a good sunblock to protect yourself by sharing my most recent experience with skin cancer. Whenever you have a positive test result for skin cancer, a follow up appointment for minor surgery is required. This usually just means that they will remove a little more skin/tissue around the affected area to insure that all of the cancer was removed, and another biopsy will confirm. It's usually quite simple, and I went in today expecting a little snip, snip, stitch or two and out.
When I arrived for my surgery I asked the doctor, a very young female with what turned out to be a great sense of humor, will this require stitches? She said yes, and I said okay, can you please put them in horizontally because I have a golf tournament this weekend, and I think that there will be minimal stress on the stitches if they are horizontal rather than vertical. She laughed, and then asked me to demonstrate my swing. I assumed the position, and showed her that when I rotate my upper body correctly the upper chest just moves back and through laterally, so there should be no excessive stress. Picture me half naked in a patient smock or whatever they call it. She then said, Ken, if you try to play within 48 hours of this surgery you will probably be in here next week for more surgery, which will be much worse than what you're about to have. She then put me in front of a mirror and showed me how the tissue removal would go and how the stitches would be made to insure that they would be at the least risk of damage. Never to give up easily, I said, okay, I can get someone to sub for me this Saturday, but the following Saturday I'm playing in an event in Dallas, and I'll just have to take that risk, because there is no way I'm going to miss it. She agreed that the odds were good that the wound would have healed enough that there was minimal risk. It's hard to convey in words how funny this whole discussion was. But, if you can picture me demonstrating my swing and pleading my case trying to convince this surgeon, who could be my grand daughter, that I can handle all this and still play golf within 48 hours of surgery, not even having been though it yet, you might get the picture. We both had several good laughs, thanks again to her good sense of humor.
To put things now into perspective, what I thought would be a quick, in and out, snip, stitch and go surgery was anything but. I was in surgery for almost an hour. Melanomas are pretty serious, and they really take it so. They will err on the safe side, so the tissue removal was significant enough to require internal stitches that will dissolve, and external ones that will be removed in a couple of weeks. This is probably why she found my pleas so humorous.
At this point after the surgery, she and I are very optimistic that the surgery was successful and the biopsy of the removed tissue will show that all of the cancer was removed. I'll know next week.
I've shared all of this because this type of experience can be avoided. Ask anyone you know who is in their 50s, 60's and beyond and chances are they've had similar experiences with skin cancer which are probably a result of sun damage that occurred in their early years. With the sunblock products out today, there is no real reason not to use it--greaseless, spray on, etc. Use it people, and 20 or 30 years from now you won't even have a reason to remember this discussion.
When I arrived for my surgery I asked the doctor, a very young female with what turned out to be a great sense of humor, will this require stitches? She said yes, and I said okay, can you please put them in horizontally because I have a golf tournament this weekend, and I think that there will be minimal stress on the stitches if they are horizontal rather than vertical. She laughed, and then asked me to demonstrate my swing. I assumed the position, and showed her that when I rotate my upper body correctly the upper chest just moves back and through laterally, so there should be no excessive stress. Picture me half naked in a patient smock or whatever they call it. She then said, Ken, if you try to play within 48 hours of this surgery you will probably be in here next week for more surgery, which will be much worse than what you're about to have. She then put me in front of a mirror and showed me how the tissue removal would go and how the stitches would be made to insure that they would be at the least risk of damage. Never to give up easily, I said, okay, I can get someone to sub for me this Saturday, but the following Saturday I'm playing in an event in Dallas, and I'll just have to take that risk, because there is no way I'm going to miss it. She agreed that the odds were good that the wound would have healed enough that there was minimal risk. It's hard to convey in words how funny this whole discussion was. But, if you can picture me demonstrating my swing and pleading my case trying to convince this surgeon, who could be my grand daughter, that I can handle all this and still play golf within 48 hours of surgery, not even having been though it yet, you might get the picture. We both had several good laughs, thanks again to her good sense of humor.
To put things now into perspective, what I thought would be a quick, in and out, snip, stitch and go surgery was anything but. I was in surgery for almost an hour. Melanomas are pretty serious, and they really take it so. They will err on the safe side, so the tissue removal was significant enough to require internal stitches that will dissolve, and external ones that will be removed in a couple of weeks. This is probably why she found my pleas so humorous.
At this point after the surgery, she and I are very optimistic that the surgery was successful and the biopsy of the removed tissue will show that all of the cancer was removed. I'll know next week.
I've shared all of this because this type of experience can be avoided. Ask anyone you know who is in their 50s, 60's and beyond and chances are they've had similar experiences with skin cancer which are probably a result of sun damage that occurred in their early years. With the sunblock products out today, there is no real reason not to use it--greaseless, spray on, etc. Use it people, and 20 or 30 years from now you won't even have a reason to remember this discussion.
50wyldeman
Member
Glad they got that stuff handled man! Stay strong!
Floor-is
New member
Please do use sunscreen, also make sure your clothes are either blocking or letting the sun through and apply sunscreen accordingly!
I've had a few melanomas so far, most of those where under my clothes (left shoulder, right chest, high back, right upper leg). So make sure you know if your clothes block UV or not!
By the way I'm 36 for another few weeks, haven't had skin cancer for over 6 years now. So don't think you're too young, it happens to everyone who's careless.
I've had a few melanomas so far, most of those where under my clothes (left shoulder, right chest, high back, right upper leg). So make sure you know if your clothes block UV or not!
By the way I'm 36 for another few weeks, haven't had skin cancer for over 6 years now. So don't think you're too young, it happens to everyone who's careless.
Ken, I'm glad you are doing okay and thank you very much for sharing this important topic with all of us. I'm very dark skinned and never burn. I'm guilty of not putting it on every round. I guarantee you I will always keep it in my bag and will make applying and reapplying part of my pre-round and on course routine. Thanks again and good luck to you.
Lefty78
Have clubs, will travel
Well said Ken. It doesn't sound like it will be hard for you to follow "doctor's orders", not much choice huh? Hey, let us know what they find.
Texasbrons
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Good post and awareness. I had my first melanoma discovery when I was 26 and getting out of the Navy. Lucky they caught it, actually my wife saw it after I got a haircut and said she hadn't noticed it before so I had it checked out. It was borderline in operable according to the Dr. In other words it was deep enough and progressed enough that the prognosis would not have been good. They removed a large divot from the back of my head and did a skin graft from my thigh. I hate it, but I've had to keep my hair somewhat long to keep it covered, but at least I'm able to do that. 20 years with no problems, but then 2 years ago another one was found in my wasteband on my back. I had been watching it and didn't like it so I asked the dermatologist to pay special atttention to it. A lot of tissue removed again, but at least they were able to close that one up. They also sampled some lymph nodes to make sure that no cancer had spread. Then last year another one beneath my left shoulder blade, but it was caught soon enough that it was a walkout surgery. They still removed a fair amount of tissue, but nothing like the first two rounds. I'm just hoping that this doesn't start turning into an annual thing. Keep living life and remember what's important!!