Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Izzy_*now* on April 25, 2008, 07:11:48 PM
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-- I had a small lump removed in out-patient at the hospital in 2003. It was almost on my eyebrow on the left.
A couple of years ago, at the dermatologist's, regarding almost impossibly itching rashes on my arms, I asked her to check my forehead for 3 'spots' I could feel--slightluy itchy. They were pre-cancerous and she hit them with liquid nitrogen. I have not been back to her, but they came back and I can feel those 3, plus 4 similar spots, which were 'hit' by my doctor with liquid nitrogen this year, but they are all here plus an excrucuating itch underneath the scar of the one removed in 2003.
I have read on the Internet that liquid nitrogen is not that good and that surgery is the solution.
Does anyoone know or know someone who knows?
I have mentioned before that I do not always trust what my doctor says!
I also have at least 4 spots across my clavicle that itch and he said they were nothing. They itch and are slightly 'sore'.
I also had a brown mole that blistered up and settled down to a brown mole, and another mole that changed from brown to pink, blistered then settled down to pink.
Any info would be appreciated.
I could go directly to an oncologist, but then I am not covered by the Health PLan. I need a referral from my 'ignorant' doctor
Thanks in advance
Izzy
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We all are very pale and my girls and I have had moles removed. Some moles are cut off with a blade and some are frozen. The real moles are cut-the dark skin is frozen. Some leave what look like chicken pock marks and some you cannot tell.
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My mother just went through two surgeries to have cancer on her leg removed.
They went in about an inch or so, in three spots total. She had a skin condition to drew attention to the cancer, which turned out to be blessing.
Her Dr. is the guy who invented the procedure she underwent, which requires he take tissue, then biopsy. Take tissue, then biopsy, till he's sure he's got it all. I think it's a lengthy procedure but this isn't something you want to mess around with.
The recovery takes months as mom had to scrape the wounds 3 times daily with a clean white washcloth and cause healing to fill in from the bottom.
I don't know how that doctor would approach cancer on the face.
I believe mom had Squamus? cancer?
I'll check on particulars if you'd like.
Lighter
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I also had a red patch that seemed like a little scaly sore-it was skin cancer but has not returned but I watch that spot-not itchy.
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Izzy - did they do any pathology on tissue?
There are different kinds of skin cancer (ones I know of off the top of my head, squamous, basal cell, and melanoma).
(I am not a Dr.) but melanoma I believe is the most dangerous.
Lollie has good advice - please get another opinion from an expert.
Love,
Peace
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Gosh (((( Izzy ))))
I don't know anything at all about this, however, I do send my sincere wishes for a swift solution.
Love, Leah
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I have nothing as visible as these images….
http://www.skincancerguide.ca/prevention/images.html
….except maybe the last one.
This describes the one removed by plastic surgeon in 2003.
Basal cell carcinomas are usually:
- a single, small, and firm lesion
dome shaped and flesh-coloured
raised at the edges
pearly or milky white bordered
covered with tiny blood vessels - easily seen over the top and around the tumour
may look like a pimple that won’t heal - ulcerated and bleeding at the centre
The other spots, other than moles, I cannot see. I can just feel them and the itch.
I think of myself as a person who has always avoided the sun….then I think back to my young years when dad has us doing the haying and the harvesting. We were constantly in the sun, with a few breaks in the barn.
I am not worried yet. I will ask GP for a referral. GP never used a magnifying glass, but the dermatologist did.
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Izzy: Ditto Lollie's advice: got to a good dermatologist. They can send you to an oncologist if necessary but many types of skin cancer can be treated at that level. There has been much in my family, in people as young as 40--hey, we're a good California clan. But DON'T WAIT.
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Yes yes yes..... get a referral and I think my mother's cancer was red and itchy, not raised or mole like.
Lighter
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Thanks FP re the pathology
Never heard a thing and all was well until 2006, when I had the itchy spots appear. As I said I cannot see them
I couldn't see the 2003 one either. It was a small spot and itched and I thought it was maybe a blackhead or pimple by my brow, that I could 'gouge' out. I tackled it constantly. It bled and I waited a bit and went at it again. This is maybe 2001?---- I was with the N and it was the lighting in the house with drapes closed and stapled to the wall that it was 'out of sight' as a lump---then came 2002 and I left him--I was at the hairdresser's and after I looked in the rear view mirror to pull down my bangs (as she always made them too short.) I saw the lump with the sunshine coming right through the windscreen so asked DR about it and had it removed April/03
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Oh Lordy, Izz.....
go see the specialist.
Soon.
Please.
Light
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Izzy,
You should go to as fine a dermatologist as you can find, as soon as you can get there. (Doesn't have to be today or tomorrow, but you know what I mean.)
I don't have any experience or know anything about skin cancer, but I work for the world's largest medical publisher, and one of the magazines my division publishes is about skin.
Once you've had sc, you should get screened EVERY YEAR by a qualified dermatologist. Your doctor should have told you this. My doctor screens me annually and I've never had it and am not especially a candidate for it.
Don't mess around with this. Don't panic, either, but go get it checked out. Best case it will be nothing and you'll have peace of mind. Especially since it's been a few years, you will look smart for doing so.
Good luck, let us know how you do.
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Thank you LC
OH my! You wouldn't believe the lackadaisical attitude from both my GP and the dermatologist.
She froze with the liquid nitrogen first and they returned.
Then I spoke to GP about a referral again and he said, more or less. "I can do it!" and used the liquid nitrogen, but only on the places that I said were itchy. I've never liked him and once I got him (doctors taking on new patients) I cannot get another.
I was thinking this morning about my sister saying, "They might not appear larger, but they can go in deeper." She had a spot on her chest a few years back.
Mine are on my forehead--I guess they've hit my brain now! That's what's been wrong!
Thanx
Izzy
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Hi Izzy,
Find other doctors. Hopefully you live in an area where you have some choices. If not, drive!!
There's no excuse for that kind of attitude on their part. Maybe they are well-meaning, but...at best they don't seem effective. You don't want to mess around with this.
LC
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Thanks LC
I'm stuck with the ones I have.
Perhaps I ought not be as nonchalant about it either, to them.
In the office, Blast, out of the office.
I wonder if I ought call the Canadian Cancer Society?
xx
Izzy
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Izzy, I've been thinking of you all week but haven't had much time to spend here.
I just wanted to tell you that I went to see my dr last week because I had a respiratory infection. While he was listening to me breathe (stethescope on my back), he found a plugged sebatious (can't spell it) gland and went to the trouble of taking it out. He said that if you don't do that, they can develop into a cyst.
I just wanted to let you know that that's the level of care you should look for and demand. He's always doing stuff like this, he's very thorough. I immediately thought of you when he did this.
BTW, have you gone back or to someone else yet? Find out anything?
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thank you LiliC
I gather the plugged gland was on your back, where you couldn't see it but thr Dr. could? He was a GOOD doctor.
I went to mine, pulled up my shirt after we finished other stuff and asked, "What is this itchy thing on my back? It feels huge and I feel like ripping it off."
He said it was just a plugged gland. Silence. So I asked. "WEll, will you get rid of it for me, please?""
Heavy sigh from doctor that sounded like "Good Heavens. I've got better things to do"
but he removed it!
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Geez!!! Can't believe your doctor. Glad you stuck up for yourself. Unbelievable. (And yes, mine was on my back, had no idea it was there.)
Yeah, my doctor's the best. I love him. He's like a brother to me. And he's a great, great doctor. I think all the other ones are jealous of him because he's good and fun and a great human being. He's seen me through a lot of dealing with my N pastor episode. He's really a throwback to another age of medicine.
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Thanks Lilycat
It's great you have a good doctor.
Update on my skin cancer--when I went to the office last Monday, there was a resident doctor there and he 'zapped the spts' on my forehead. This was after MY doctor said that people could let these go for up to FIFTEEN years and no harm would be done.
I cannot imagins all the scratching I would be doing if I kept them 15 years.
All the zapped ones have fallen off now, this rime I just forgot to mention the one on the scar where I had one surgically removed in 2003. That is the only itch left. The resident had a 'different touch' than my doctor, so that is good news,
My doctor inherits the one on my scar next visit.
Izzy
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Izz.... glad they handled the zapping/getting rid of itches and plugs.
Nice to breath a sigh of relief and have done with.
Lighter
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YES!!
thank you lighter
Izzy
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Hi Izzy Deer-
I am so glad that a diligent and competent resident found and treated you. Some doctors appreciate an intelligent and knowledeable patient, others suffer from disinterest or the "demigod" syndrome, and resent imput from the persons best able to provide information- the patients themselves!!!
Can you swing it so that you can see the resident when you come in for treatment?
Happy you were properly cared for FINALLY!!!
Love,
Changing
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Hi Izzy Deer-
Can you swing it so that you can see the resident when you come in for treatment?
That is what I want to know!! :D
And if he's unavailable, tell that old fogie doc that you want another young intern-dude to check your spot.
!!
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YW ((Izz))
What's next?
Have you had your tummy all checked out yet?
Lighter
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Thank you changing, Carolyn and lighter.
The young resident is practising under my Doctor's tutelage. for how long, I don't know, but what I do know is that he spent more time asking, and listening, than my doctor ever does and I told him I appreciated the individual attention he gave me (as opposed to wrapping me up in a package with the rest of the world), so I hope he keeps that up as that is my Doctor's drawback: the individual attention, as though I were his only patient, and not in a hurry to herd me and the rest of 'his cattle' through the line-up.
The resident will go on and receive instruction and hands on with other doctors I expect and I will never see him again. :( :(
My tummy is fine, lighter, but as with the other areas, I keep my eye on it....well not literally, you know, figuratively speaking. :lol: :lol:
Love
Izzy
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You finished up with appt's now?
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As I recall, I have a Sept. date penciled on my calendar... is it the 8th?
But I was waitin for the update as to what would happen when Iz told that crusty doc she prefers the youngsters!!
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No, lighter, I see my N doctor every 3 months for prescription refills. That is when I discuss things with him, or try to. I try never to give him an opening for a dissertation, because it is Nish and I can become discombobulated, like 2nd last time when I forgot, after his speech, to ask him to zap my forehead spots.
Yep so I see him again on Sept 8 as above, but if anything is bothering me, I can ask for an interim appointment not related to the meds. Carolyn, you can remind me of my appointment. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Whever I do see him, I am going to say what a good doctor I expect that resident to be......! (and why) :shock: :shock:
Iz
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lol... I will, Iz! While I was waitin for you to verify the date, I checked back on your posts and confirmed that it really was the 8th... so - congrats to my few remaining brain cells :lol: It is now in orange pencil crayon on my calendar, so I can not miss it!
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Heh Heh Heh.
That's so sweet! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Iz
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Oh, Izzy... well, I am really determined to pay more attention and to be more intentional... mindful choices, you know... consistently...
and you are special to me, so I must write down dates and not trust memory.
Just don't make me give up my dotdotdots for the sake of correct punctuation! :lol:
Carolyn
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............................................................................
Well Carolyn Lookkee There
When enlarged our dots become squares
Does that.......... make us squares...................... or dotty??
No I am not giving up my dots either.... This is wonderful.
I am really determined to pay more attention and to be more intentional... mindful choices, you know... consistently...
Izzy
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Izzy! I don't know how to make my dots into squares!! lol
You know how to do all the cool stuff :D and I will enjoy being a dotty square with you, anyday!
Hey, yesterday I learned how to alphabetize my favorites folders in Vista. I was so proud :P
You don't run Vista, do you? If not, and just in case you ever wondered whether it's as idiotic as "they" say . . . . .
YES, it is! and that is all my news for now.
Hope you have a wonderful day, deer Iz.
Love,
Carolyn