I thought, as we are at the start of the holiday season, I would relay my DH experences as a reminder to take care when in the sun. It has a happy ending, so not triggering.
He is 70, so grew up in the days of not using sunscreen. First went abroad in his early 20s,always worked in retail, so always worked indoors. We could only get one weeks holiday a year, as we ran our own shop, and had to keep it open to comply with the lease.He tans very easily, much to my annoyance, never likes sunbathing. So didn't think he was at the top of the list for getting skin cancer.
3 years ago, he got a scratch on his nose, no big deal, a bit of savlon, it cleared up. He thought he had caught his glasses on his nose to cause it. A few weeks later, it returned, cleared up, came back. This went on for a few months, but no concern, until he casually asked at the pharmacist for something stronger than Savlon that might clear it up for good. She told him to go to the docs asap. It turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, the least dangerous of skin cancers. He got booked in to have it cut out and replaced with a skin graft from his shoulder. A bit uncomfortable but got it sorted, or so he thought. At the followup, 3 months after the op, he was told that when they checked the bit cut off, cancerous cells went right to the edge of the bit cut off, indicating it was more widespread that expected. Another op needed.
The next op was called MOHS which is a bit like cutting a Spanish ham. Thin slice removed, it is checked in the lab, and if dodgy cells go right to the edge, another slice is taken. Process is repeated until they are sure all cancerous cells removed. He was under general anaesthetic for 9 5 hours,. He had about 80% of his nose removed, and his nose reconstructed using cartledge from his ears, and a forehead flap. An interesting procedure, if you dont mind a bit of gore, look it up on youtube. 18 months on, it is pretty much healed, the bit cut from the forehead took the longest to heal. He had the op on Oct 26th, so annoyingly quotes Henry 5th, telling people he got his scars on Crispins day, no one gets it, but it doesn't stop him. Anyway, the point of this, apart from getting it off my chest, is to remind you to not neglet the use of sunscreen, and badger the rest of your family to use it too. We are fortunate it was a BCC and not a melanoma. Happy holidays.