FabGrandpa 3: Cancer 0

FabGrandpa had surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma from the side of his nose on July 1. We drove down to Prescott, Arizona to the VA to have it done. We had been trying to get an appoinment since March, because the lesion kept getting bigger and looked pretty bad to us. But, the doctor did an excellent job on the surgery. You can barely tell he had surgery now that the stitches are out.  This first photo shows how it looked–a big black spot on the side of his nose.

Here is another shot of the lesion. It started out looking like a pimple that never went away, and progressed into that black spot you see here:

The surgery was done in the doctor’s office. They put novacaine in his nose, then cut out the lesion. It required three stitches to close it up. They put on a bandaid, and sent him on his way. He said it didn’t hurt, and it must not have because he never complained about it once.

The doctor said to take the bandaid off after a couple of days, and just use an antibiotic ointment on it until it healed. Here is what the incision looked like with the stitches in.

We went back down to the VA in Belmont, west of Flagstaff, on July 12 to have the stitches taken out, and to let the primary care doctor take a look at it. When the stitches came out, we were both pleasantly surprised because we can barely see the scar. That doctor did a very good job!

If you are have fair skin, red hair, or freckles, then you should be using a sunscreen every time you go out in the sun. Even if it is a cloudy day, those UV rays can damage your skin. There are three kinds of skin cancer: Melanoma, which is the worst and most aggressive type of skin cancer, can strike anyone at any age. Basal cell is the most common type of skin cancer, and rarely metastasizes or kills, but can cause significant damage. Sqauamous cell carcinoma is the third type of skin cancer.  All of you are related to FabGrandpa, get you some sun screen today and start using it! And everyone else too!