A Very Important Lesson

If you’ve been listening to my show on the station, you know I have spoken quite often about my recent kidney stone. I will admit, I have spoken about it quite a bit. But there’s much more to the story than just a simple kidney stone. The CT scan that I had to confirm the size of the stone also showed a couple other things that I wanted to get checked out. As you can imagine, having medical tests and procedures isn’t cheap. I was able to hit my health insurance deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amount. Because of that, any other medical care that I need is covered through the end of this year. I decided to make an appointment to see a dermatologist. It has been about four years since my last dermatologist visit. I had a couple things on my skin that I wanted to talk to the doctor about, in addition to getting a standard skin check.

I love being outdoors. We spend quite a bit of time outside during the summer, and I always do try to avoid getting sunburn whenever possible. Anytime I know that I’m going to be outside for an extended period of time, I usually will apply SPF 50 sunblock. As a matter of fact, sometimes I am referred to as the “sunscreen police” because I am constantly reminding my wife and daughter to reapply their sunscreen.

Today, I had my dermatologist appointment. The doctor noted a couple of the questions or concerns that I had, and promptly removed those areas in question. He found another spot that I was unaware of, as it is on my neck toward the back side. Not a spot that most of us ever see. He explained that he was concerned about that spot as being a possible basal cell cancer. He took a biopsy of that spot as well. So now I just have to wait a couple of weeks for my follow up appointment to discuss the results of those biopsies.

My point in sharing this information is not to alarm anyone, but simply to remind you of the importance of getting regular skin checks with a dermatologist. It’s quick, simple, relatively pain-free, and it could prevent something much worse down the road. It could also save your life.