Lip News

I saw the cosmetic surgeon today and he gave me some good news. It is squamous skin cancer but he thinks it can be treated with radiation instead of surgery. I'm euphoric. I'll have to go to the cancer clinic and be assessed there but I'm so hoping that it can be done. The doctor said it would take a few treatments but that is nothing compared to having surgery.

This has all got me thinking about the whole process I've been through with this lip. I did let it go too long without having the dermatologist look at it (more than a year) and that was very foolish of me because I know better. She thought that it would be cured by spraying with liquid nitrogen and that's what she did just before I left for Florida last fall. And it almost worked, but not completely.

In the spring, she sprayed it again to no avail and then decided to have me apply Aldara for 8 weeks before she'd excise the spot. I used the Aldara for 5 treatments and it ended up making both lips raw, scabbed and bleeding. At that point, she told me to lay off the Aldara until the whole mess had shrunk by half and then to restart using it.

I had already decided to see my family doctor because I couldn't bear the thought of a dermatologist cutting into my lip and he'd sent me to a cosmetic surgeon. Luckily, just before seeing the cosmetic surgeon, I accidently knocked off the huge scab on my lip so he was able to see the original small sore. He did what my dermatologist should have done and sent me for a biopsy. And all of this led to my appointment with him today.

I'm left wondering what would be happening if I'd stuck with the dermatologist and not gone to my family doctor. What if he hadn't sent me to the cosmetic surgeon? Would I still be suffering from using that bloody Aldara??

I guess I'm lucky to have a family doctor I can trust and who I know will send me to the right specialist. It seems that I did the right thing by going to him with my concerns and didn't just accept the treatment I was getting from the dermatologist. It pays to get a second or third opinion, doesn't it?