Today the day began with a visit to the Dermatologist. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, which was removed with Moh's surgery, 12 stitches and some reconstruction. I am supposed to go for check ups every 6 months. It's been 4 years. So today I went. Dr. Rendon cut off, burned off and looked at many things on my body, but all in all, got a good report and off to work I went. Yay! Katie surprised me with a matzoh ball soup for lunch. LOL Whadda girl. Thanks Kathleen! xoxo

<--- My cancer surgery scar. Poor thing.

There's a lot of information on the internet about skin cancer.

Please check your bodies. Be aware. Ask questions. Arm yourself with knowledge.

The below site is has some information, is easy to read and concise. Check it out.

http://www.skincancerawarenessproject.com

The ABCD Rule can also help tell a normal mole from a melanoma:

A: asymmetry – one half of the mole does not match the other half

B: border irregularity – the edges of the mole are ragged or notched

C: color – the color of the mole is not the same all over. There may be shades of tan, brown, or black, and sometimes patches of red, blue, or white

D: diameter – the mole is wider than about 1/4 inch (although doctors are now finding more melanomas that are smaller)

Other important signs of melanoma include changes in size, shape, or color of a mole. Some melanomas do not fit the descriptions above, and it may be hard to tell if the mole is normal or not, so you should show your doctor anything that you are unsure of. Skin cancers often don’t cause symptoms until they become quite large. Then they can bleed or even hurt. Basal cell carcinomas often appear as flat, firm, pale areas or as small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, waxy areas that may bleed after minor injury. You might see one or more irregular blood vessels, a depressed area in the center, or blue, brown, or black areas. Large ones may have oozing or crusted spots. Squamous cell carcinoma may appear as growing lumps, often with a rough surface, or as flat, reddish patches that grow slowly. If you have a question or concern about something on your skin, see your doctor. Do not use pictures of other moles to try to diagnose it yourself. Pictures are useful examples, but they cannot take the place of a doctor’s examination.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Squamous-cell carcinoma is the second-most common cancer of the skin (after basal-cell carcinoma but more common than melanoma). It usually occurs in areas exposed to the sun. The risk of metastasis is low, but is much higher than basal-cell carcinoma. Squamous-cell cancers of the lip and ears have high metastatic and recurrence rate (20 to 50%). Squamous-cell carcinoma can generally be treated by excision or mohs surgery. Nonsurgical options for the treatment of cutaneous SCC include topical chemotherapy, topical immune response modifiers, photodynamic therapy (PDT), radiotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy. At this time, systemic chemotherapy is used exclusively for patients with metastatic disease. Australian scientist Professor Ian Frazer, one of the developers of the HPV vaccine, says that animal tests have been effective in preventing squamous-cell carcinoma in animals, and there may be a human vaccine against this kind of skin cancer within the decade.

The Mohs procedure is essentially a pathology sectioning method that allows for the complete examination of the surgical margin. It is different from the standard bread loafing technique of sectioning, where random samples of the surgical margin are examined.

Mohs surgery is performed in four steps:

• Surgical removal of tissue (Surgical Oncology)
• Mapping the piece of tissue, freezing and cutting the tissue between 5 and 10 micrometers using a cryostat, and staining with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) or other stains (including T. Blue)
• Interpretation of microscope slides (Pathology)
• Reconstruction of the surgical defect (Reconstructive Surgery)