I'm not a big beach person and haven't found myself interested in baking in the sun since I was in my early 20's, which means over 40 years ago. However, here I am dealing with what has become routine for so many people, skin cancer.
Luckily it seems to be in early stages and I'm grateful for that since two of the three areas I'm dealing with are on my face.
Last week I got my first of the three upcoming Mohs surgeries done on the one by my upper lip. Thankfully, the Dr. I chose is also knowledgeable on plastic surgery and paid special attention to how he would need to creatively close the area. Trust me, it was not a pleasant procedure and was frightening to look at. Today was the second one, this time on the hand. At the same time, the stitches were taken out of the first one. Amazing how much healing happened in that week. I can see that over time this will heal well. I've got some numb areas that I'm told will take a couple of years for the nerves to reconnect. Small price for getting this taken care of early.
This is not my usual art related posting for my Torn Paper Paintings or something fun and light as usual, but I felt the need to send out a warning that you really do need to protect yourself. I will admit that I had been careless about using sunscreen and protecting myself because I figured I wasn't laying around baking, so it would be just fine. Don't fool yourself...it isn't fine.
I'm including a picture to bring home the point for anyone who is saying, "sure, sure, I do enough, I'll be just fine. Couldn't happen to me". I thought that too.
So please, pay attention. Enjoy your summer, but be careful and be kind to your skin.
Save yourself from dealing with this somewhere down the line.
Sunscreen may not prevent this from happening, but it's a great start.
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