Squamous in Suquamish

Suquamish, WA - 6 Jun 2023

         Off work again today. It seems lately that my life is a series of appointments at various medical clinics. Today I had to make a long drive to Gig Harbor. It seems that little piece of me that I donated to the pathologist a few weeks back turned out to be skin cancer. I wasn't surprised, but had hoped it would be something easy to fix. Not so.

         Because my dad had a number of cancers removed in his lifetime I was a good candidate for trouble down the road. Today I spent some quality time with a Mohs surgeon. Skin cancer isn't something that old people get. I probably started this back in my twenties when I was invincible and spent a good deal of time running around shirtless. When I was on Okinawa I would often go surf fishing. A good way to spend the day while enjoying the outside, ocean breeze and heat. Good times often finished with a bright rubor to mark me as having spent far too much time under old Sol. Being of Mediterranean descent and an olive complexion it took time for me to burn to the point of pain. By then it was too late. Of course, I could heal overnight. Twenty somethings have that power. In addition to that exposure I had lots of time in Florida when I was assigned there and during some tours in desert climes and the Mediterranean to continue in my sinful ways. Now at the end of my seventh decade I am discovering what all those exposures have done to me.

         Squamous cell carcinoma is not the killer that melanoma is, though it has the potential to metastasize — a bad thing. Because of that these sorts of things can’t be just frozen or shaved off. It requires a specialist, a Mohs surgeon. Mohs surgery is interesting. The doctor marks off an area where the suspected cancer lives and then marks around that where the precancerous stuff extends. This is where the fun begins. The first step is to remove a chunk where the cancer is. For me that was an area roughly a centimeter in diameter. This is taken to the full thickness of the skin. I got to see the picture... It was cool. The doctor took it all the way down to the subcutaneous layer. That chunk goes off to pathology and I get to sit and think for a long time. I read the three letters I got in the mail yesterday and a good portion of Cannery Row, my current read.

         What happens next is that if the specimen shows cancer cells in the margins then another trip into the hole in my face would warranted. This goes on until all the margins are clear. Good news for me is that the surgeon got it all in the first pass. Some fancy wound revision a pile of sutures later and I had a nice incision from the corner of my eye to my ear. I'm going to look like a pirate when this is all finished.

         Home now with what looks like a battle dressing on the side of the face. I also got a free pass for three days off and a no honey do chit. Cool. On top of that I am a member of the lifetime regular follow-up club with my dermatologist. We're going to be besties, I just know it! Meanwhile, I am outside enjoying the no chore thing and hammering away on an electronic typer with Dave Koz in my ear and a no alcohol brew at my side — Hazy IPA from Athletic Brewing. One of very few non alcoholic beverages that actually tastes like beer. 

Keep on truckin' 

-Mike