Skin Cancer
I've had an ongoing issue with skin cancer on my face for the past 12 years or so. It really comes as no surprise since I grew up on an island and spent most of my time working outdoors and either at the beach or boating during my free time. Having fair Irish skin hasn't helped. Consequently, quickly developing a blistering sunburn on my forehead and nose was a common occurrence no matter what sort of precautions I took. Well... I could have avoided being outdoors but that wasn't much of an option. I do avoid being outside as much as possible today but when I was young and very active that was not an option.
During that first year of skin cancer 12 years ago, I had surgery to remove a sizable cancerous tumor in my cheek requiring twenty-seven stitches to close the area. Since that time, I've had numerous biopsies and little spot treatments here and there. In the past few years, my doctor has given up on trying to keep up with spot treatments because the developing cancer has become too widespread and there is no keeping up with it at this point. I've had scabs and raw spots all across my forehead and the sides of my face. These scabby, crusty areas actually become a bit painful. No matter what I tried, including typical dermatological treatments, the scabs and raw spots would never go away. They just continued to get worse and actually spread.
A little over a year ago, the talk at my annual skin cancer appointment turned to describing the next step in this treatment as a chemo/acid topical treatment that would slowly burn and peel away the cancer as well as my skin over the course of six weeks. That wasn't really something I was looking forward to but I knew that if others went through the same and had some success with it then it was something I could do as well.
This year, I, personally, decided to go a different route. I chose an experimental treatment which still involves a relatively mild acid wash but foregoes the chemo additive. Instead of the chemo agent, we are applying an all-natural medical grade topical treatment while concurrently using a coarse acid wash exfoliating agent. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), some patients have had complete success with this treatment plan (a few years of success anyway... as everyone knows, there currently is no cure to rid oneself of cancer permanently) so I figured this experimental treatment would be worth a shot.
This is a less aggressive route to go but is spread out over more time. This treatment plan requires daily treatment rather than a much stronger weekly treatment and is double or triple the total number of days compared to a more aggressive chemo route.
As of today, I'm on day 15 of 90. Even though it is relatively early in the treatment, there have been obvious visual improvements in the condition of my skin where treated so that is good! Even Sheila took a closer look at my forehead the other day and said, "Wow!" The not so good news is it is only day 15 of 90 and I'm already a bit tired of this daily morning treatment. It is sticky and smelly and requires a solid hour in the morning and then four quick washes throughout the day.
So far, this treatment hasn't interfered with anything because I've been sick with the flu, colds and a stomach virus since early January. This seems to be my usual way to bring in the new year... being sick for the first few months. I'm not doing anything else so I might as well be doing this treatment. Because of my primary illness (mast cell disease... systemic and cutaneous), minor illnesses like colds, flu and viruses tend to make my overall health worse and require a lot of time to recover.... upwards of 90 days so I might as well be tied up with a treatment plan too during this time.
In the meantime, this experimental skin cancer treatment seems to be working and that is good news...
During that first year of skin cancer 12 years ago, I had surgery to remove a sizable cancerous tumor in my cheek requiring twenty-seven stitches to close the area. Since that time, I've had numerous biopsies and little spot treatments here and there. In the past few years, my doctor has given up on trying to keep up with spot treatments because the developing cancer has become too widespread and there is no keeping up with it at this point. I've had scabs and raw spots all across my forehead and the sides of my face. These scabby, crusty areas actually become a bit painful. No matter what I tried, including typical dermatological treatments, the scabs and raw spots would never go away. They just continued to get worse and actually spread.
A little over a year ago, the talk at my annual skin cancer appointment turned to describing the next step in this treatment as a chemo/acid topical treatment that would slowly burn and peel away the cancer as well as my skin over the course of six weeks. That wasn't really something I was looking forward to but I knew that if others went through the same and had some success with it then it was something I could do as well.
This year, I, personally, decided to go a different route. I chose an experimental treatment which still involves a relatively mild acid wash but foregoes the chemo additive. Instead of the chemo agent, we are applying an all-natural medical grade topical treatment while concurrently using a coarse acid wash exfoliating agent. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), some patients have had complete success with this treatment plan (a few years of success anyway... as everyone knows, there currently is no cure to rid oneself of cancer permanently) so I figured this experimental treatment would be worth a shot.
This is a less aggressive route to go but is spread out over more time. This treatment plan requires daily treatment rather than a much stronger weekly treatment and is double or triple the total number of days compared to a more aggressive chemo route.
As of today, I'm on day 15 of 90. Even though it is relatively early in the treatment, there have been obvious visual improvements in the condition of my skin where treated so that is good! Even Sheila took a closer look at my forehead the other day and said, "Wow!" The not so good news is it is only day 15 of 90 and I'm already a bit tired of this daily morning treatment. It is sticky and smelly and requires a solid hour in the morning and then four quick washes throughout the day.
So far, this treatment hasn't interfered with anything because I've been sick with the flu, colds and a stomach virus since early January. This seems to be my usual way to bring in the new year... being sick for the first few months. I'm not doing anything else so I might as well be doing this treatment. Because of my primary illness (mast cell disease... systemic and cutaneous), minor illnesses like colds, flu and viruses tend to make my overall health worse and require a lot of time to recover.... upwards of 90 days so I might as well be tied up with a treatment plan too during this time.
In the meantime, this experimental skin cancer treatment seems to be working and that is good news...
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