Everyday I ask God to smile through me to someone. I am determined to see the positive in everything I do.
When I started this marathon I was still working full time. I am in management with Wal Mart. The majority of my work day is spent on the sales floor. Several of my co workers and regular customers are shocked by the extent of my cancer. These are people who see me every day, more than my family in truth. They did not see anything that alarmed them. My husband sees me everyday and the only thing that concerned him was the spot on my cheek that bled periodically. I have said it before and I may say it in every post forward. Know your body. Stand up for your body. Do not let anyone convince you that any changes in your skin are OK. Make them prove it. BIOPSY anything that even remotely seems out of place. Get your camera and someone you trust and start your skin journal today.
For more and more people, Cancer has become A Family Story. This is part of mine.
Meet my Uncle Don. An awesome tennis player, the family natural medicine health nut and guru, and now our beloved warrior.
He is a man who has always practiced what he preached. "Take care of your body and it will take care of you." In 2002 Uncle Don had several basal carcinomas removed. In 2004 he was diagnosed with his first melanoma which was removed with a Mohs procedure. After that he kept dermatology appointments every six months. He and his wife pointed out any concerns they had at every single visit. My aunt tells me that in 2010 there was a spot that popped up on his head resembling a blood blister. At their next visit she pointed it out to the dermatologist saying "we are concerned about it". The doctor lightly pushed her hand away and said "it's nothing". The spot grew rapidly and changed in appearance. She became more concerned. She even had a dream about it prompting her to push up Uncle Don's next appointment. At this visit she was more than adamant. The doctor was surprised "they had missed it" at the last visit. He tried to excise it in the office but it was too deep. A biopsy revealed melanoma. A second procedure with a surgeon removed it. The cancer was stage 4 melanoma by that time. Given the advanced stage and lack of proven protocols for treatment, Uncle Don chose to let it run its course. He has now been on Hospice for almost two years.
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT A SPOT DON'T LET THE DOCTOR BRUSH YOU OFF!! BE ASSERTIVE. IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE.
We are bombarded with all sorts of colors. Gold is for childhood cancers. I lived through that one. Pink is for breast cancer. I had a sister-in-law that lost her fight to that just a few years ago. Light Blue is for prostate cancer. My father passed six years ago from that. I learned recently the black ribbon is for melanoma.
One of the vendors in our store confided to me that she lost a brother to melanoma. He had a spot on his thigh. He figured it was an age spot. He was a self professed nerd and rarely spent time out doors. He had fallen on the ice in his driveway and during surgery to set his leg the surgeon sent it to pathology. It came back melanoma. Further testing showed the cancer had spread through out his body. He passed away a year later.
In route to Texas I met a young woman on the plane who lost her husband recently to skin cancer. She was traveling with their 3 young children. She and her husband were high school sweethearts. He had a spot I believe she said it was on his back. She doesn't recall it changing. She doesn't remember it not being there. During one of his physicals the doctor asked him about it. He decided to get it biopsied. The biopsy came back melanoma, he was gone within 8 months of his diagnosis.
Every color of the rainbow now represents a form of cancer. Long before these colors represented anything else they were simply the rainbow, God's promise for hope.
Take away nugget: Faith grows in the soil of Gratitude and Thankfulness. What are you truly grateful and thankful for?
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