My Cancer Scare and Mohs Surgery that Soothed my Fears

by Paul
(USA)

One of the worst scares of my life was the discovery that I had basal cell carcinoma.

To the average person this is simply called skin cancer, but once you contract it, you seek out information on it until you're an expert.


By the time I was through, I could sling medical jargon with the best of them.


Anyway, I noticed an odd spot on my neck one day while I was shaving. I tried my best to ignore it, but I think subconsciously I knew it was serious, even though it took me many more weeks of worrying to tell anyone about it.


When I told my wife she immediately made me go to our family physician, whose diagnosis was swift: looks like cancer, we'll have to run tests.


Well, it was cancer. I had never been so frightened in my life. I thought of not being able to see my grandkids grow up.


I thought of all the plans we'd had for retirement. I saw it all going up in smoke, and my life slipping away.


But my doctor soothed those fears. "There's a very effective surgical technique to treat this," he told me.


"It's called Mohs micrographic surgery. Now what we do is, we go layer by layer, cutting the cancerous cells out, and examining each layer under a microscope until we find one with no cancer in it. This means it's far less likely that any cancerous cells will remain after we're done."


I was still frightened but I was heartened by what he'd told me, and eagerly assented to undergo the Mohs procedure. We did so right there in that same office, several days later.


The procedure was surgery, there's no denying it, but it was relatively painless and non-invasive. When it was over, I was over, the wound was stitched up, and it has since healed so that only a small, inconspicuous scar remains.


Most importantly, I have been cancer-free for four years now. I have gotten to see and experience things I feared cancer would prevent me from ever seeing or experiencing.


Contracting skin cancer was a traumatic event in my life, but with the aids of a good doctor, a loving wife, and Mohs surgery, I defeated it.