A couple months ago I 'forced' Aaron to schedule his yearly physical. (I use the word 'force' because Aaron NEVER goes to the doctor.) Begrudgingly, he scheduled an appointment and his doctor suggested that he go to the dermatologist to get his moles checked out. "Not, another appointment!" he exclaimed. Surprisingly, Aaron called and scheduled an appointment, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that they could get him in. The doc looked him over and was only concerned with one mole on his cheek. He said it was probably nothing, but did shave some surface cells off to test for anything suspicious. A couple days later the results came back and the dermatologist informed Aaron that he had the beginning stages of MELANOMA. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is skin cancer. The only way to get rid of this when found early is to remove the infected area, and hope that it has not metastasized (spread). If metastasized, then one would need chemotherapy, radiation and etc.
***
Well today, Aaron had an appointment with the plastic surgeon at OHSU and was under the impression that he was there for the small, simple removal of the mole. In actuality, he was there to not only remove the mole, but all of the surrounding tissue. Poor Aaron...
Not exactly what we were expecting, but the hope is that they have removed all of the cancer cells. Aaron will be fine, but he does have to make sure that he is NEVER exposed to direct sun-light, which means ALWAYS applying sunscreen and wearing hats. He looks a little funny all bandaged up, but we are so happy that this was found early. In this we have learned the valuable lesson of staying current with physical check-ups, the importance of dermatology appointments, and the necessity of sunscreen!
We love you Aaron!
Not exactly what we were expecting, but the hope is that they have removed all of the cancer cells. Aaron will be fine, but he does have to make sure that he is NEVER exposed to direct sun-light, which means ALWAYS applying sunscreen and wearing hats. He looks a little funny all bandaged up, but we are so happy that this was found early. In this we have learned the valuable lesson of staying current with physical check-ups, the importance of dermatology appointments, and the necessity of sunscreen!
We love you Aaron!
4 comments:
Oh Aaron. I'm gonna have to make you something special to make you feel better. Be hungry for a chocolate treat this week from the Jensens.
Oh my Goodness! This totally reminds me of my sister in law. She tans, and is out in the sun constantly with tanning accelerator and I keep telling Tyler one of these days she's gonna end up with skin cancer. She has millions of freckles and sun spots even at 21! I hope that she won't have to go through anything serious...
I'm glad Aaron is okay. Bummer about the whole area romoval thing! Luckily I have stressed sunscreen to Tyler recently, as it is usually sunny here in Idaho. We love you guys!
I had to check out the pics after I heard you talking about "the scar". Oh man, he's gonna have to come up with a really good story... maybe a shark attack or maybe a fight with a masked robber. I'm sure he can come up with something juicy.
I'm showing my hubby this post. He doesn't believe in suncsreen... so maybe this will help convince him!
I feel your pain, Aaron... I had three moles removed plus the surrounding area on one last year and was told I couldn't do a run I was planning to do the next day.
I'm glad Hoku urged you to go to the doc & that you followed through with a dermatology appt.! I hope this is the end of melanoma for you!
Post a Comment