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PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:52 pm 
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Its an old guy problem.
Skin cancer. I've had it frozen, scraped and cut out before, but this time they found a different kinda of basil cell carcinoma. Not melanoma.
This type grows down into the lower tissues rather than fanning out along the outer tissues.
He had to go in deep to get it all out. And its along my upper back.
The part that gets nice and stretched out when we hunch over out bikes...

I will give it......one week!


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:53 pm 
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Is it from the sun, not that you have any of that chit in the dez?

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:40 am 
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Dirtrider wrote:
Is it from the sun, not that you have any of that chit in the dez?


Most skin cancer is a result of exposure during our early years of life.
Bad sun burns, before we turn ten, seem to really cause us the most
problems by the time we reach our 40's.
I got my first skin cancer when I was 35, so every year I go in for a check-up.
Most of the time they find nothing, but every now and again they find something that needs to be cut out. This was the first time they had to go in deep to remove all of it.
This will also be the first time I've been off the bike for a whole week (or longer) in the last three years....
I'm not looking forward to that.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:09 am 
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My fore arms have skin that scratches and bleeds very easy due to sun exposure. Sometimes after a ride I look like I got attacked by a bobcat :shock: lol
I have been wearing long sleeve shirts from REI that are spf 50 rated and seem to keep me cooler also.
Exposure to the sun is something most people don't think about for themselves but always for their kids. Go figure..
Hope your back riding again soon :cheers:

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:48 am 
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I rode Black Mountain a while back and ran into a guy who sells sweat liners that go under your helmet that have the "painters hat" type of shade flap that covers your neck. If you had something like that would you still need to stay off the bike?

I wish I could remember his company name. Age seems to affect my memory more than sun affects my skin.

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:23 am 
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Off the bike? For that?? I've had it cut off my upper shoulders and collarbone area and never had to stay off the bike.

Get out there!

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:02 pm 
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Gak....good luck. Scary stuff!


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:14 pm 
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Take care of yourself and get your moles checked, guys. My wife had a normal looking mole that was itching and had it cut out in March of this year to be safe. The biopsy came back positive for melanoma two weeks later at stage 1.

Because it was 1.4mm deep, they insisted on doing a lymph node dissection to see if it had travelled to the sentinel node. It did, so she was "upgraded" to stage 3a. Fast foward one week and she's getting dye injections, PET CT scans (clear - yay!), and then back in surgery again to have a complete lymph node dissection of her right armpit. Luckily, these came back negative for cancer.

To be safe, she opted for infusion therapy, which the only options for stages 1a to 3a, is Interferon. Another surgery to have a port installed in her chest with a catheter in her artery, then daily injections for one month. She decided on one month of high dosage versus 1 year of pergolated treatment because of the side effects, which can be severe. She stopped three days short of one month because her spleen was enlarging and she started experiencing liver failure. One more surgery to have the port removed on the 13th last month, which then got infected and turned into a blood infection... hospital visit and three weeks of antibiotics now.

Some things to think about. There's no way to know if some rogue cell travelled anywhere else in her body. There's no guarantee that the Interferon worked if there were any remaining cells - there's no way to know. If she has a reoccurance, it most likely will not be at the original location - automatic stage 4, BUT she would then be eligible for the powerful drugs. Her current 5-year survivability is about 73%. The thing with melanoma though is that it is not sun-related, but people that are prone to non-melanoma skin cancers are at a higher risk. Researchers seem to think that other environmental factors and genetics have a larger role. Dark-skinned people are not immune. Bob Marley died of melanoma. Happy Thursday :wave: lol.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:35 pm 
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The reason I was told no riding for two to three weeks was the depth of the stitches and their location. The potential to tear apart the incision.
There are six 'under skin' level stitches and ten or so on the skin itself.
Not a real big deal.....to me.

Since I go in regularly for check ups I don't sit around and worry about melenoma. That is not to say that won't happen, but I do know what to look for and take the steps (that I can now) to prevent further damage.

I keep sun screen everywhere; bathroom, RV, camel pack, work trucks just incase I forget it.

@Rob, I'm sure the doctors have given you a schedule for check-ups. Stick to it!
I'm glad she is doing well now, don't spend a day worrying about tomorrow.


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