Bad Reaction to Aldara

I woke up this morning to see that the original small skin cancer on my bottom lip was now covered by a huge scab that almost covered half of my lip. I knew this had to be a bad reaction to the Aldara so I called my dermatologist who got me into the office at 11:30. She confirmed that it was a severe reaction and told me to stop using the Aldara until the site reduced by half. She also prescribed a cortisone/antibiotic cream ($55 and not covered by OHIP) to use 4 times a day. She was kind enough to give me a sample tube of another cream to put on my inflamed upper lip twice a day. Once the lesion on the bottom lip has reduced by half, I can begin using the Aldara again but only twice a week.

I really hate using any kind of medication and this powerful and unwanted reaction to Aldara proves my point. All drugs will have some sort of unhealthy side effect and I knew that Aldara is notorious for them. Unfortunately, it's important that I continue to use it in order to shrink the original skin cancer spot so that as little as possible will need to be excised.

I've read on the internet of much worse side effects so maybe I'm lucky that this is all I've had...so far!

By the way, today is my 71st birthday and it didn't start out too well.

Kim and Cindy are bringing me my favorite meal from La Spaghett because I just look too awful to be seen in public. Poor me.

Update: I accidently knocked the blooming scab off at dinner and scared all of us to death. It turned out to be a good thing because the skin underneath the huge scab seems almost healed. I'm hoping for good things tomorrow.