"Look skin deep, past the reflection"
Sitting here writing this, thinking past the scars. Hoping the women reading this article take away the deeper meaning of awareness when behind my words. now where do I start?
rowing up around so many beautiful
girl friends, I quickly noticed that image to society, especially boys, was a big thing. So when offered to use a friends sunbed to give me that glowing tan which would automatically make me stand out in the crowd, you know what my answer was. Awareness of sunbed misuse was non existent, if I only knew what I know now about just how damaging these ultra violet rays were on my body, there would be no way I would have stepped anywhere near one.
As I got to the age where I was legally allowed to fly abroad with my friends on our own girlie holidays, packing sun lotion was on my list. However in my eyes back then, bronzed was beautiful and there was no way a factor 50 was coming anywhere near my fair, freckled skin. I wanted to look like a goddess not Casper the ghost! So I would opt for around factor 4, the lower the better for me! Now I don't want to sound patronising, but only you are responsible for protecting your skin. There are so many sun lotions now that don't leave any white marks and come with a bronzing agent. Science is unbelievable now a days, especially when tackling skin cancer, which I'm sorry to share with you all I am now experiencing.
During one of my sports therapy treatments, Gina who in the past has also suffered with skin cancer.
Noticed that one of my moles had turned a darker shade, it was border line black. Gina told me that she didn't like the look of it, I hadn't even noticed with it being positioned on my spine . I needed to see my GP, this was urgent and the reception booked me in as a priority. My GP referred me to the specialists in the hospital, I was terrified! I'm a mum of two beautiful children so you can only image the terror of thoughts that were racing through my mind.
Walking into to my appointment alone, I felt strong and ready to hear the worst! The specialist confirmed that the mole needed further investigating, so when hearing this news I suddenly had the courage to ask him to check a mark on my face which I thought was a skin condition, that I had been overlooking for years. The specialist didn't seem to concerned about the marks , he was more concerned about my feeling on having a large scar on my face. I told him that if he thought it was skin cancer he needed to remove it whether it left a scar or not!
Arriving for surgery, the surgeon came to talk me through the procedure. I was shocked to hear that the specialist had booked me in for the two areas in the one visit. When the surgeon finished marking up the mole he then came up to the area on my face, I will never forget the comment he made " Yes that's skin cancer" He knew straight away, I was amazed with his immediate diagnosis that I asked him to check two other marks around my ear which had previously been checked by my GP, he said it was fine but this surgeon knew his stuff and also confirmed it as skin cancer.
With the experience I have had, I would really encourage you to read my full story plus after results via mumboss.co.uk
G
Wendy x