Bye Bye Ear

On October 17th I went to my yearly dermatology appointment for a routine check-up.  I originally called because a spot on my nose but the day before my appointment I realized the spot was gone and tried to cancel the appointment.  The receptionist said I really needed to come in since I had two prior basal cell carcinoma's on the back of my neck.

Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC), a skin cancer, is the most common cancer.^[1] It rarely metastasizes or kills. However, because it can cause significant destruction and disfigurement by invading surrounding tissues, it is still considered malignant.

I went, and the doctor noticed a mole on the tip of my ear that looked suspicious so she took it off to be biopsied.  I really didn't think anything would come of it, it did not bother me and I wasn't sure how long it had been there, so I was a little surprised when she called on November 7th to let me know that it was actually melanoma.

Melanoma is less common than other skin cancers. However, it is much more dangerous if it is not found early. It causes the majority (75%) of deaths related to skin cancer.

Luckily it was found early,and is in situ.

Melanoma in situ means that the melanoma is in the original place or site. It has not spread and has been caught early enough to be considered stage zero. In this stage, intervention causes an almost 95 percent cure rate.


YAY, sorta lol.  I am lucky, I am not stressing, but I will admit to being very annoyed.  I now have to see my dermatologist every 3 months to get a check-up and there is still this issue with the spot on my ear that I am in the process of removing.

I am not surprised at all, I am a fair haired blue eyed goddess!  I love the sun and try to avoid it but with the number of severe sunburns I have had over my life, not to mention my obsession with tanning beds that lasted a few months, well, it wasn't really a shock to get this news.  I would have liked to have been a bit older, but then again I am getting up there I guess.

Why me?  Why not!  Today I went to have this "procedure" done to remove the rest of the cancer off of the tip of my ear.  You would think this would be an easy procedure, or maybe I was just hoping it would be an easy procedure, but instead of easy I get this process that is insane to even contemplate.  Step 1, (today), removing a large area of my ear.  Later today they will test that piece to make sure they got all the cancer and if not I have to have more removed but they are 90%+ certain they got it all today.  Step 2, repairing the missing ear.  I will be honest, part of me wanted to just let it heal like it is, I have no vanity apparently and even told the doctor that I always wear my hair down anyway, which is a big lie, I hate having my hair down.

He convinced me that I need to get the step 2 done tomorrow, which involves removing skin from behing my ear and attaching it to my missing ear blah blah gross nasty, you get the idea.  I should be done with the entire procedure in three weeks.  They gave be Vicodin for the pain, really, how about some Valium instead!

Here is a pretty picture that shows the steps, my missing chunk is larger.

So if you happen to see me around with a big bandage covering the top of my left ear, ok fine, my whole ear, you will know why.  You don't have to feel sorry for me, really it is not that bad, getting through tomorrow is going to suck but it could be so much worse, anything could be worse than this, and I am hopeful :o)