Welcome to the Wandering Drays!

Not all who wander are lost...

Welcome to my blog dedicated to my family and our crazy foreign service life. Never content with staying in one place, we are excited to share our journey. We've survived two unaccompanied tour (Baghdad 2010-2011 and Baghdad again in 2015-2016), multiple TDYs, and enjoyed a two-year family assignment in Cairo, Egypt. The fab hubby is currently learning Turkish for our next assignment...Istanbul, Turkey! We leave for Turkey sometime in summer 2017. I write about what I know. Which is mainly kids, tween drama, gross pets, dealing with lots of government info, our moving adventures, being a nurse, yoga, running, living on too-little sleep, and an addiction to coffee lattes. I hope you'll enjoy this glimpse into our lives.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Where the Sun Don't Shine

It's summer, and even though it's sunny year-round here in Cairo, for some reason summer is just different.  Hotter, for sure.  And somehow, sunnier.  As I run through the Wadi equally worshipping and hating the sun (it's very, very stifling in the desert), it reminds me to get my yearly skin check.

If you've met me, you know I'm pale.  Pale is actually a very, very polite term for my skin complexion.  Stark white, nearly-translucent.  That's more like it.  I wish I could say porcelain.  But that's a lie. It's actually pasty.  Thankfully, I do tan up a bit, and my cheeks are naturally rosy, so I really shouldn't complain.

I've always had a few freckles and moles.  But the years of loving the sun have started to catch up with me.  As a child I had multiple sun burns.  In my late teens and early twenties, I tried the fake bake of the tanning booth (something I very much regret now).  What used to be just a few freckles has grown to be a splattering of freckles all over my body.  Cute, maybe, but all signs point to sun damage.

I've had not less than ten moles removed in my adult life.  I've honestly lost count.  And of those removals, one has been 'funky', coming back as pre-cancerous.  Thankfully NOT cancerous (melanoma).  My dermatologist had to remove deep into the surrounding tissue and I've had no issues since.  But I still breath a sigh of relief whenever I think about what that could have become.  

Yearly skin check.  I had mine the other day.  I knew what to expect - it's the same every year.  Do you go in the sun? (Yes.)  Do you wear sunscreen? (Yes, sometimes.  <--- I know, I'm an RN.  I should know better.  And I do.  But honesty during your health check-ups is way more important than giving the answers you think they want to hear.)  Have you ever had any blistering sunburns in your life? (Yes.  Two as an adult; multiple as a child.)

My doc looked my skin over, head-to-toe.  It's not a comfortable appointment.  Through my hair to see my scalp.  My face, my back, my arms.  Everywhere.  She was very thorough, looking for those moles that aren't like the others.

Four.  She found four that made her say "hmmmmm."  And I was prepared; certain that it would be on my arms or my back - those areas which see the most sunlight.  Maybe even my face.  I was ready for that.

But not this time.  This time, it's where the sun don't shine.  My bum.  Nothing's awesome about having moles removed.  The needle, the lidocaine burning, the scalpel, the tingling pain after.  Laying on my stomach, I was making nervous jokes about my booty.  Slightly embarrassed, yet grateful that she found the discrepancies.  Moles I can't even see.  What might they become if she hadn't found them?  Would any of them have progressed to melanoma?  

So here I am tonight, the day after having those four moles removed from my tuckus.  And it's tender.  [Insert butt jokes here.]  Yet, jokes aside, I'm relieved that those moles were found.  Most likely, pathology will reveal that they are completely benign.  And if not, then I'll do follow-up with a dermatologist back in the States during R&R.  And next year, I'll do the same thing.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.  You get the picture, right?

Consider this my PSA as a sun-loving, pale, freckly RN runner.  Get your skin checked.  Head-to-Toe.  And don't let your doc miss the areas where the sun DON'T shine.  Because she might just find something that you've been missing.


12 comments:

  1. Wow. It's a good thing you posted. This is one check up I haven't had. Growing up on the gulf coast and doing the annual first peel of the year for a base tan until I was 21, probably puts me at risk. I think I'll schedule me (and Tim) for one of those on our R&R. Cross your fingers! I may owe you a latte...

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    1. Oh, a latte would be so nice, but I'd much rather everything come back negative!! Good luck getting it all done on R&R!

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  2. I also had melanoma...at the tender age of 19...and a massive scar and skin graph on my forehead as a daily reminder. I was not a sun worshipper at all but am a natural redhead. People always say "oh, well, you're a redhead so that's probably why." My father is very dark skinned (Eastern European) and has battled melanoma a few times. People need to understand that sun worship or not, red hair or black hair...everyone is susceptible to skin cancer and needs to get that annual check up. And yes--I HATE this check up almost as much as the OBGYN b/c it does feel invasive to have them checking ever nook and cranny. But when you've gone through the scare of cancer you realize how important it is. And I'm glad you get yours done!!

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    1. Love your point! Yes, everyone - sun worshipping or otherwise, is at risk! I'm so glad yours got caught in time, too! How scary. And yes, I totally agree - I'd almost rather have another baby than the head-to-toe check. :-)

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  3. I have a nice scar on my collarbone from some early-stage cancer thing being cut off, and they are always coming at me with a knife for something or other! Runs in the family, in part because we are very outdoor people. Thanks for reminding me I need to make my annual appointment!

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    1. I hate the knife, too!!! And needles give me the heebie jeebies. Unless I'm the one giving the shots. You're welcome on the reminder!!

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  4. I need to do this. I have never had a dermatologist look at my skin. It just seems like the time in my life to start doing a yearly check. I also haven't had a mammogram-ever! When I tried the doc said I was too young and the tissue to dense. I've been breastfeeding ever since then-off and on for 5 years. Yikes! Now there is no issue of the tissue being too dense. Thanks for a reminder!

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    1. Oh, the booby check! We should all get in the habit of Pap, booby, head-to-toe skin check every year. Then nothing would get missed!!

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  5. I've never been screened and I should. Northern European heritage living on the Equator. So, do I start with the health unit doctor and then get a recommendation for a local dermatologist?

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    1. Your Health Unit MD may be able to do it! I got mine done at the Health Unit - we do all sorts of procedures here; but we have huge clinic and 3 RMOs. So give them a call and see what they recommend! They very well may refer you out to a dermatologist instead. Good luck!

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  6. Thanks for the reminder! I need to do that too. I don't spend much time in the sun now but I used to fry on a regular basis as a child. We didn't use sunscreen back then and I am also very fair. I do not tan. I get red and blistery and then peel and that's it. After a bunch of those experiences, I think it will be wise to do annual checkups. Hope your bum-bum feels better.

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    1. You and I could easily be sisters. I don't remember ever putting on sunscreen and peeling was a summer rite-of-passage every single year! Annual checkup time!! (And the bum-bum is so on the mend!)

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