| wigs | Let me strongly second M's sage advice-I just had my full-body skin screening 2/19/10. Also, folks, | |||||
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Veteran Member wigs@juno.com 607 posts Joined: Mar 10, 2006
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Posted to Thread #17798 at 9:41 am on Feb 23, 2010
PLEASE have all other recommended annual checkups. True story==>
An acquaintance of mine died from skin melanoma some years back--Amy was a mere 39 years of age. Her MDs originally thought she had breast cancer due to a lump she had noticed and gone to the doctor about, but after many tests it eventually turned out that her breast lump had metastasised from a melanoma skin lesion found in her vagina! Amy hadn't bothered to have a PAP & pelvic exam since the birth of her 3rd child who was 7 at the time of Amy's diagnosis. And don't ignore eye checks and the dentist! Melanoma can also form, i.e., grow, in the eye. I am a two-time cancer survivor--colon cancer in 1993 and thyroid cancer in 2004. I had no history of EITHER of those cancers anywhere in my family medical charts. It was through routine annual physical exams that symptoms were noted by my PCP which led to addtional testing that detected both my cancers. For the colon cancer my only symptom was fatigue--at 43 years of age, I was feeling unduly tired and I also flunked my annual hemoccult test that year so my doctor ordered blood work, and I turned out to be severely anemic. After finding that out, Dr. Rau promptly sent me to a GI doctor for a colonoscopy to determine what was causing my blood loss, and a tumor of invasive adenocarcinoma was detected. The very next afternoon I was wheeled into the OR to have that tumor removed. About 10 years later during my annual physical a nodule was detected on my thyroid gland, but it was so small that I could never feel it. My family doctor noted it and immediately sent me to an endocrinologist who ran tests that came back saying I had papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. Both cancers were found early and were localized. As Michael said: Early detection is very, very critical. Yours truly here is living proof of that wise statement! We all spend money doing preventive car maintenance. Your body is more important than your vehicle! Thanks for reading/listening. Wigs aka Caryn |
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