Karen's message yesterday spread the word that May is Skin Cancer Awareness month. She does this from the heart as she herself has victoriously defeated skin cancer three times! By all means use the link above to stop by and read her story & hear her message; lots of good info, links, stats and hat pictures!
The photo above is my face, and the photo below too. A trio of scars mark my face & neck and another runs nearly a foot up the length of my abdomen. It may be seen as unfortunate to have to bear these marks. But fortunate is all I feel.
Fortunate for not taking cancer for granted and seeking a medical advice for what didn't look/feel normal
Fortunate for not believing the nonsense that what I felt/saw was nothing, it'll probably go away
Fortunate for not putting me second and all else first thus being lame and saying I don't have time for this right now
Generally I don't like to write my posts in negative tones, but at times doing so adds the proper pause needed to think and absorb about the message...
DO NOT take any aspect of your health for granted, certainly not cancer. Cancer is not taking any thing for granted, while hoping you are, as takes advantage of you in its quest to end you. Cancer has one goal, to kill you!
DO NOT believe something is nothing until you have it verified that it is nothing. There is no way I know of at home to self diagnose what you feel/see as odd for whether it is cancer or not. There are definitely ways you can self diagnose whether that oddity has the potential for cancer, and you'd be wise to learn what to look for. Get it checked out by a medical professional who can diagnose and verify whether you have something, or, nothing.
DO NOT be lame, period. You are your most important asset. You are what you need to put first in life everyday. Nobody else, nothing else. Nobody can take care of you as well as you can. Take care of yourself first, and you will be able to take care of all others that depend on you.
The faces of cancer survivors are many. Some of you, like Karen & I, may be cancer survivors too. Or you may be engaged in battle with the beast today; if so my heart goes out to you in your battle.
Please do know that you can greatly minimize your risks of cancer by being cancer aware and taking action.
Please do know that you can catch cancer early and greatly minimize it's impacts by being cancer aware and taking action.
Please do know that you can beat cancer by being cancer aware and taking action.
The skinny on cancer: Action is cancer's worst enemy, Take Action to prevent, control, defeat cancer.
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!
Posts
Good advice, Patrick and a great post.
ReplyDeleteNothing negative about this - it's a great, positive message!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I think people take skin cancer less seriously than other kinds of cancer. Which is why I wish more people realized just how common it is and how potentially devastating melanoma can be. You and I are fortunate that we took charge and have good outcomes to show for it:) You know I love this post, Patrick.
ReplyDeleteI think that as our biggest organ, our skin is very important. Skin tags and such run in our family as we age , so I don't know whwther to be concerned over all that's popping out or not! LOL! I don't have insurance to find out.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! We can never be reminded too much about looking out for cancer.
ReplyDeleteI cannot emphasize the self diagnosis aspect enough. My brother in law is living with brain cancer. He suffered from headaches for MONTHS before finally going to the doctor. 2 weeks later, he was having a craniotomy and starting chemo/radiation. His condition is terminal. Who's to say the prognosis would be the same if he had only waited weeks instead of months to get checked out.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post. My husbands mother had stage 4 colon cancer before she went to the doctor and had been having problems for -years- before she did anything about it. If she had been more diligent, perhaps my children would know their grandmother.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said! Cancer has hurt me and people around me. Listen to your body, it knows best. I pushed my doctors when they said nothing was wrong. My body was telling me that things weren't right and I was right! There was something wrong. Had I listened to my doctors, I might not be so lucky today. I'm not saying that doctors are wrong, because mine are amazing. I just think they wanted a different explanation for my symptoms and I wouldn't listen!
ReplyDeleteSarah
notaneffingdiet.blogspot.com
GREAT POST Patrick & so glad you & Karen have survived it!
ReplyDeleteThought this quote was very appropriate for today's blog. Love you and your scars!
ReplyDelete"...and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means I survived."
Glad you're healing up, Patrick. I went to the dermatologist for the first time a couple of months ago. Partly had your story in mind. Just a checkup - nothing of concern. But I'm glad I went.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Patrick! You know this is something I advocate for, and congrats to you and Karen on being survivors. We celebrated for you last Friday at Relay for Life and worked tirelessly to raise money for Cancer research. So, that that people like you, Karen and my husband get a second chance. If I can give any advise to your readers it would be if you notice ANYTHING out of the ordinary please please see a doctor.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice!!! Congrats on being a survivor!
ReplyDeletetwo huge thumbs up bud!
ReplyDelete