This year was a little different, in all the mayhem I managed to get to the skin specialist for my normal skin check- up. I am one of those very fair people, freckles all over and a tan to me means turning a different shade of red! When I was a kid my Mum always encouraged me to “get outside and get some colour”.  But this check-up didn’t go according to plan!

I have been watching a spot on my face for some time, make -up makes it disappear but it had gotten to the stage that I thought I should see somebody about it.  The Dr was very through, checking all my freckles and moles.  I ended up having 5 possible suspects burnt off my face, 2 on my arms and another 2 that were really suspect which had to be biopsied and sent away for testing.  What I thought was a normal check-up turned into burned spots all over my face, and 2 spots with stitches – the Dr didn’t think it was funny when I asked for a paper bag (to go over my head) so I could enter the world and continue with my day!

I still went out, and people would ask me what had happened, I just said Skin Dr and I got the nod of approval.   Living in Australia we all know somebody who has had a run in with the Skin Dr!

About 5 days later, first thing one morning I got the call from the Dr, the leg one had come back all clear, it was just an ugly mole, but the one I was worried about, turned out to be cancerous.  What a shock, not the news I was expecting, all I heard was spot on leg OK and one of face is cancerous – he did say a lot of other words too, but all I could think of was the C word!

I must admit it did send me into a little tail spin, and I didn’t do very well at work that day, it took me a couple of days to process this information.  Back to the Dr’s I went, got the stiches out and I was told my options.  Good news is I can still have our planned beach holiday as I am waiting for the current wound to heal.  In a couple of weeks, I will start putting a cream on my face which will hopefully burn the cancer out this will take about 6 weeks, during this time I will have to limit my sun exposure.  

This doesn’t mean I am giving up walking, far from it. I am still walking BUT this year I am wearing a wide brim hat, 50 spf sunscreen and trying to keep my face protected at all times. I will be celebrating the fact I am the palest person on the beach!

If you do see any spots on your body that you are not too sure off, go get them checked – you just never know.