One summer day could equal melanoma!

Could have been on the golf course. Or that day at Disney. Or sometime in those three weeks I was shelling on Sanibel last summer. Not sure WHEN that crazy off the ABCD dermatology chart SPOT became potentially deadly ... but it did. One of the bazillion on me. And when one doc did not choose to take it off last year and a new doc (I got because regular doc was booked solid) sliced it right off - whoa ... never would have guessed that rectangular vague, light brown, not bleeding or crusty or suspicious to me - spot - was a stage three pre-cancerous threat. UGH. Did not expect the call. Did not enjoy the month long wait to get it excised. And I do not know what was worse - that particular wait OR my mother texting me ten times a day wanting to know how soon? How soon? How soon??? Or after the fact ... have you heard anything? Have you heard anything? Have you heard anything?

I post this day for one reason. Get yourself and your spouse and your kids checked. Annually, if not more.

Melanoma is relentless. And vague. And hides in places one might never seek to look. The stories in the news this time of year are scary. As they should be. The skin is your largest organ and needs to be as respected as your brain, heart and liver.

I have become a self appointed mole whisperer. I feel like I am an unofficially certified expert given I have have probably 10,000 or more in various shapes, sizes and colors living rent free all over me. I call them my art of the sun. My genetic gift. And now, at age 55, after years of laying out in the sun slathered with nothing but a 4 spf or baby oil and two bad sun poisons - my vigilance.

As she cut out the spot (did not hurt at all. Only hurt a bit after the fact) I was my usual funny self ... can you shape it in the form of a starfish? I got a straight line and a bunch of stitches and she promised if I took good care of it that it would ultimately fade a bit. Fade? Why would I want it to fade?

This scar will be my reminder that for some reason, I dunno, maybe God wants me here a bit longer, I got to live another day. My spot was caught early and removed and you can bet I will be in every six months and watch myself very carefully. And probably everybody else, as well. See this picture below??? This was a TINY spot and the aftermath. GET CHECKED!!!!! Do not become a skin cancer statistic. This is an easy one. Sunscreen. Hats. Long sleeves.