Thursday, August 20, 2015

Grave Indeed

After weeks of sitting on the sidelines of Ivy's Six Sentence Story link-up, (where the writer has to use six, and only six, sentences to tell a story based on the week's prompt) I finally managed to come up with something for this week's word "grave". You can join in, too, if you like!



True story:

Seeing as how I spent my entire childhood outside, half of that time at the pool, without the use of a drop of sunscreen or even a hat on my head, I pretty much expected it to happen someday, and yet I was still unprepared when the doctor asked, "Do you have a preference between freezing and biopsy?"

I had been in denial for two years, telling myself that the spot on my lip wasn't anything to worry about, so how could I know what each entailed, let alone have a preference of one over the other?

In the end, I went with freezing, because, while having liquid nitrogen blasted onto one's face to cause frostbite under the skin of one's lip is far from pleasant, it's gotta be better than having a chunk of one's lip cut out of one's face.

The four oldest children were told about the pre-cancerous cells that had been slowly growing on my lip but were now frozen. "Does this mean you will get cancer?" one asked.

"Not if I stay on top of it and keep getting my skin checked," I replied, then continued with, "but now that you know the grave consequences of refusing to wear sunscreen, I fully expect you to use it, and to go the extra step to put a hat on your (damn) stubborn heads!"

Have a lovely day!

32 comments:

  1. Preach it, sister! My husband has had skin cancer THREE times, progressively more painful and invasive removals. Stay on top of the sunscreen!

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    1. ouchouchouchouch!!

      I am doing my very best to avoid your husband's experience.

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  2. ...and to make it more annoying, (besides the actual discomfit), is they use that Reddi Whip-looking tall aerosol cans while doing!

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    1. Yes, when he first came in the room with that canister (before he had even looked at me!) I thought, "Huh, wonder what that thing is for". I won't ask such silly things, even in my head, any more.

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  3. I was a sun goddess back in the day too. Had to have that tan. I've not had any issues though so I'm grateful for that. Yes, sunscreen and hats.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. I pray you continue to be so fortunate! Sunscreen and hats and shade, especially with you on the boat as much as you are!

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  4. My friends used to call me lobster for obvious reasons.

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    1. Ouch. My nose peeled from June 1 to September every year. Pretty sure the nose will be next to get some treatment. :(

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  5. I know, I know, I know. The burns I have gotten in my life! It used to be a summer rite of passage. Now I watch my moles anxiously. Glad your precancerous ones are frozen.

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    1. It's not just moles! I have a few moles, but the spot on my lip was just a bit of skin that turned just a wee bit different in color than the surrounding skin. Check every inch of skin for changes!!

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  6. Oy...beware the smoking thermos!!!!

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    1. So glad you hopped in this week! Isnt it nice to stop at 6?

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    2. So glad you hopped in this week! Isnt it nice to stop at 6?

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    3. The smoking thermos. Good description.
      Coming up with exactly six is hard!

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  7. Oy...beware the smoking thermos!!!!

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  8. Oy...beware the smoking thermos!!!!

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  9. Replies
    1. Wow. You went from being unable to comment to many comments. What in the world....???

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  10. Replies
    1. I'm still laughing about your comments being more sentences than my story. :)

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  11. How important your post is. Lets hope your readers get all their friends to read it too.

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    1. Hopefully, each generation will become better and better at preventative measures.

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  12. wow I hope you are okay... back in the day of baby oil, peroxide ...and no funds to get to the beach there was tar beach ...roof top tanning with baby oil on, peroxide was for the hair if chose to use it hair would turn an orangey blond...I opted out no way, I always had natural highlights and low lights... anyway those days I burned first than tan and tan and tan...not anymore I'm not out much for the most part I am trapped in a cubicle in Melville NY...however if I am ever out and about I am quite relaxed with not applying any sun screen...thanks for the warning...so far I'm ok
    enjoy your weekend.

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    1. At the moment, I have an annoying scab. We'll see if the freezing worked in October. I'm not worried about it. :)
      For other health reasons, I've been staying out of the sun as much as possible for several years. I sit under an umbrella on the soccer sidelines. I still get burns sometimes. It's really hard not to when outside as much as I am.

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  13. It is scary! I think my whole generation tanned with baby oil!!

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    1. No joke. My kids' mouths were hanging open when I told them that not only did we never, ever use sunscreen as kids, but many people put oil on their skin to get even more sun. They were appalled.
      It is scary, seeing as how we have a whole lot of skin to keep track of.

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  14. After I get done snickering about Ivy's many, many comments, I will say that I hope this little scare is your only little scare. My mom was a sun worshipper, starting when she was in high school, and she's paying the price now. When my kids are blase about sunscreen, I only need remind them what their grandma's skin looks like and what she's gone through this year with the places she's had removed from the top of her head (where her hair had to be shaved off) to get them to lather up.

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    1. Her computer is losing it lately.
      We'll see how this changes my kids' sunscreen habits. Early indications aren't good. Buttercup put up a fuss when I dropped her off at a soccer game when I told her she needed more than a needlepoint's worth of sunscreen to cover her face. :/

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  15. I'm so glad your Dr. caught it Christine. Scary stuff indeed. Sunscreen is a must!
    btw, nice - hat - damn -(stubborn) heads. Now who/what does that remind you of? LOL

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    1. Haha! Where do you think I got it? I put it in there just for Clark. :)

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