My Skin Cancer Scare + The Importance of Skin Checks

As some of you may have seen on Instastories, I recently had a melanoma scare and I thought writing a blog post about my experience might bring some awareness to the topic or even get one of you non-believers to the dermatologist for a skin check.

When was the last time you saw a dermatologist who checked your entire body (we’re talking your scalp, in between your fingers and toes, between your cheeks and boobs) for abnormal looking freckles/moles?! For me, I could answer that question in one word: NEVER. What. An. IDIOT. I’m from Southern California, I grew up in the sun, got countless sunburns and used tanning beds. Once again: what. an. idiot. How many of you who went to tanning salons put stickers on your bikini line so you could see just how “tan” you got in 20 minutes?! I would get the heart or playboy bunny.. god, what a loserrrrrr, right?! Anyways, I digress..

Fast forward to a month ago when Alix went to the dermatologist for a wellness check. She had a biopsy of a weird looking freckle on her neck and it came back normal. All good. But it got me thinking.. I have never been to a dermatologist. I see my OBGYN every 6 weeks because I’ve been pregnant for 100 years of my life and then I’ve seen a Primary Care Doctor since I was young (but not consistently because I’ve treated my OB as my Primary Care Doctor for the past 3 years). But I bet some of you can’t even remember the last time you went to the doctor or even needed a check up. Well I am here to tell you… you’re playing with fire.

I scheduled a dermatologist appointment soon after Alix had her appointment and went in for a full scan. The doctor literally used a magnifying glass on my entire body to look for unusual suspects. So be prepared to throw all modesty out the window. She checked my entire scalp, ON my fingernails, between my toes, everrrrrrywhere. As she made her way up my legs, she stopped. “How long have you had this freckle?” she asked. Ummm you mean to tell me I should know how long I’ve had a freckle on a random spot on my leg when I am COVERED in freckles? I told her I had NO clue. She kept looking at it and said we could either wait to biopsy it after my pregnancy or just do it now. I asked if there was any risk in taking it off because of pregnancy and she said no so I said, “Get that shit off of me.” And so she did.

Two weeks later my phone rang and I let it go to voicemail because 1. I was in Nordstrom Rack (precious time!!) and 2. I didn’t recognize the phone number. Then it rang again.. same phone number and a voicemail. An urgent voicemail from the derm’s office. I literally started shaking.. why would they call me twice in a row and say to call them back right away? I thought I was a dead man walking. So I called back and received the news that I had Melanoma “in situ” and that they needed to get it off right away. Oh, and they said don’t Google anything cuz I’d freak out. Comforting. So guess what I did the second I got off the phone? Hello, WebMD what the F is Melanoma in situ?!

Luckily I found out that it is stage 0 Melanoma. It means there are cancer cells in the top layer of skin (the epidermis). The melanoma cells are all contained in the area in which they started to develop and have not grown into deeper layers of the skin. Some doctors call in situ cancers pre cancer. In a way, they are. Although the cells are cancerous, they cannot spread to other parts of the body, so in situ cancers are not a cancer in the true sense. But if they are not treated, in situ cancers can develop into invasive cancer.

If it goes untreated, melanoma will infiltrate the tissue and eventually lead to the lymph nodes. From there, it spreads to other major organs, including the brain (stage 4 melanoma). All of this information truly terrified me because I didn’t think anything on my body looked remotely suspicious. I don’t have moles. I have a bunch of freckles all over my body like every other person who has ever laid in the sun or been on a vacation in their life. I never in a million years thought I even needed to see a dermatologist. I thought it was a waste of time and money. What. An. Idiot. How many times can I say that in this post?!

Anyways, I scheduled my surgery for the following week and when I saw my doctor, I wanted more information before we got started. How did this develop? When? Who is prone to getting melanoma? How do we get it off… how do we ensure it’s not on any other area of my body because we just randomly biopsied a freckle that looked suspicious? Do I have to stay out of the sun now? How often do I need check ups? Am I more susceptible to skin cancer down the road? HEEEEELP! She answered all of my questions and more..

First and foremost, she told me that melanoma typically hits women, in their child-bearing years and on the legs is the most common spot. Weird. I ticked all those boxes. And she said that I either developed it during my pregnancy with Cameron (who is 19 months old) or with this current pregnancy.. more than likely with my current situation. She doubts it was with Jackson, who is 3.5, as it would have spread further by this point. She basically told me that all of the extra estrogen in my body from pregnancy makes cancer cells metastasize. OK, thanks for this terrifying information. I certainly never knew that. Did you?

Next, we need to get it off. She drew the margins on my leg and warned me.. it’s a rather large area they need to biopsy to ensure they get every cancer cell. Warning: picture is graphic but for someone who had a freckle the size of a pea taken off their leg, this is what a biopsy of melanoma can look like:

The surgery took about 30 minutes, she stitched me up and we talked about a plan going forward. I will see her again this week to get the stitches removed and will see her again every 3 months for the next year. At every appointment, she will do a full body scan. Once I hit my year mark, I have to see her every 6 months. After that, it’s yearly as long as I am cancer free and she doesn’t biopsy any funky looking freckles. And yes, I have to be careful in the sun.. which I have been over the course of the last year or so. Ain’t nobody got time for wrinkles. Anyways, we head to Palm Springs this weekend and you can bet I will be in a sun hat that covers my entire face and neck with SPF 50+ lathered. The timing isn’t great but it’s the only trip my husband and I get sans kids before this baby is born so.. WE GOIN!!!

Before all this went down, I didn’t know anything about melanoma. I didn’t know that skin cancer remains the most prevalent of all cancers in the United States, more common than all other cancer diagnoses combined. And while melanoma makes up just a small portion of those cases (about 1 percent), it is also the most deadly. The fact that it hits women in their child bearing years most frequently, and since so many of you are in similar situations as I am, I thought you might benefit from hearing this information and might even make a dermatologist appointment. Melanoma is no joke.. it’s a silent killer.. and it’s worth a trip to the doctor to ensure you don’t have anything weird going on underneath those freckles.

Anyways, this post might be a little premature because I have yet to receive the results of my biopsy to make sure they got it all off. If they didn’t, they just have to go in and dig more out and stitch me up again.. which I am hoping and praying isn’t the case because this scar is gonna be BIG enough as it is. But hey, I’d would 100% rather have this Frankenstein scar than be dead, right?!

And lastly, thank you to everyone who reached out via text and DM on Instagram to show their support as I went through this process! You wouldn’t believe the number of people, close friends and complete strangers, who said they went through something similar. It scared me even more and prompted me to write this post because I hope it encourages ONE person to make an appointment to get checked out. Because there is nothing more important in this world than your health.

Thanks for listening!! xx, Heather