I meant to write this about five weeks ago, but for reasons I don’t recall I didn’t. I suspect it fell through the cracks as news stories took prominence. Also, it wasn’t a subject I was anxious to write about, though didn’t have any problem with doing so. But I remembered it last night, so finally I’m getting around to it. It popped up when Rachel Maddow opened her show with seven minutes of “personal privilege,” talking about having just been diagnosed with skin cancer, having a procedure to get rid of it, how easy it was, and how important and easy it was. Her story was excellent, and if you missed it, here’s the video – It resonated with me because in recent years I’ve become predisposed to skin cancer, and everything she said was spot-on. It is incredibly easy to be checked – indeed, the dermatologist just looks at you with what’s basically a powerful magnifying glass. That’s it – you’re just looked at. No prodding, no poking, just looking at your skin, all over. That’s about as easy as a check-up gets. And I think most insurance plans cover it. If the doctor does spot something that concerns her (my dermatologist is a woman, so that’s the pronoun I’m going with here…), then she’ll just freeze it off if it’s pre-cancerous – and honestly, I actually like that, a focused, quick spritz of extremely cold air. With the added knowledge that she just got rid of something I didn’t want – pfft, it’s gone. Only if she’s not sure if the “node” might be something more advanced will she have to do more: you get a shot of pain killer so that a small nodule can be snipped off and biopsied in a lab. But that is A Good Thing, because if there’s a problem, you want it found! Because as much as you don’t want to hear there’s a problem, you want to know about it if there is so that it can be removed. And if you get check-ups regularly, whatever is found will be found early – which is the critical point – because anything found early can be removed pretty easily, and the problem is then gone. My only quibble with Rachel Maddow’s report isn’t really a quibble, but more of an extension. She recommends people get a check-up once a year. In my case, I have a checkup twice a year. But that’s me – because (as I said) I’m pre-disposed to skin cancer. So, I want to be absolutely sure that if there’s anything there, it’s caught incredibly early and dealt with easily and in comfort – not just physical, but mental. I’ve had to have more invasive procedures, yet while I’m never happy about that, I’ve never been nervous when getting the news because I know it’s been caught early. This came up because a couple months ago I have more “nodes” found than usual. (Usual, to be clear, is nothing cancerous, but one or two pre-cancerous nodes every other year isn’t uncommon. And occasionally, something more advanced did crop up in those six months since the last check-up.) There are three levels of skin cancer. Basal cell, squamous and melanoma. You definitely don’t want the last one, but as long as you’re having regular checkups, it shouldn’t (God-willing) occur. Basal cell is the easiest to get rid of, especially if caught early, sometimes just scrapped off in 20-30 seconds. Squamous can be scraped off, too – though usually it may require what’s known as a MOHS surgical procedure. By the way, though much more elaborate and far-more time-consuming, if caught early it’s pretty basic – indeed, it’s done in the doctor’s office. I’m not going to go into the procedure, but I’ll just that that that’s why I have six-month check-ups – every MOHS procedure I’ve had (three, so far) has gone very smoothly. The bad cells were removed, and all’s well. And again, the point is – without the checkups and without having had the procedure, the problem would be serious. Perhaps critical. With the checkups, it was easy, and it was cleared up completely. (My most recent MOHS procedure was two months ago, hence Rachel Maddow’s report having such an impact on me.) So, I just wanted to “second” Rachel Maddow’s story and reiterate that there is NO downside to having an annual checkup for skin cancer. None. There are only two possible outcomes: either they don’t find anything, which is great – or they do find something, and (disappointing as that is) that’s good, too, because they can then get rid of it really easily (sometimes even within seconds). So, both results are good. What you don’t want is to wait several years to find out something has been growing the whole time. And again, supporting the “NO downside” point: the checkup is really easy – you just sit there, and the doctor looks at your skin. That’s it. I lost a friend to skin cancer a couple years ago. He waited too long before getting checked out. It was caught “early enough” to at least treat and be hopeful, but too late to keep it from metastasizing. And so, he had several years of very tough surgeries, and ultimately there was nothing left to do. I don’t think everyone has to have two checkups a year (unless your doctor recommends it), though there’s no real downside, other than having to go in for an extra appointment. But I think most insurance plans today even cover it, so there’s close to no cost. Or none at all, I don’t recall. One last thing, and this is just me, because my doctor recommended it. Last week, I had what’s known as a PDT treatment on my scalp. (That’s photodynamic therapy.) It’s a totally a preventative process, I didn’t have any problem – this is to hopefully keep nodes from forming over the next year. But the doctor thought it was time to be protective in advance. There are different kinds of preventative treatments, some much simpler than others, but the PDT treatment is the most protective, so I went with it. It’s the most elaborate, using UV blue light and requires a bit of preparation the week before, and also has a bit of discomfort (unlike the other kinds of treatment), but considering the preventative upside of the process, the discomfort isn’t too great and doesn’t last long. The most common side effects are only that some of your skin might become red, but that only lasts two weeks at most. Then, in a year, you do it (or one of the other procedures) again. The point, to reiterate yet again, is Rachel Maddow was right. It is a really good thing to get an annual skin checkup. The checkup is easy (you sit there and are looked at), totally painless, and very probably covered by your insurance. I went into a bit of medical detail (more than I know most people care for, so – sorry about that) and got more personal about it that usual, but that’s only because I wanted to make as clear and unrelenting as possible why this is so easy and so good, rather than just saying, “Y’know, it’s something to consider.) It is something to consider. I hope people will consider it very seriously and realize how truly smart it is to do. Because…well, you know by this point -- it’s so easy and painless. Probably the most painful thing about the whole process will reading this whole, long article. But if that helps make the decision to get checkups easier, then even that is A Good Thing…
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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