Not how I planned the weekend.

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

In Australia, most, if not all, GPs are very much aware of skin cancers, especially melanoma.

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Too right, from my experiences!
Also, my third last 'Excision' had to be done by a top, plastic surgeon as it was a 'Not much meat and close to the bone' situation. I had an appointment quickly arranged by my regular skin doctor. No delays there!..........and 'No', I don't have private cover.[smilebigeye]

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Originally Posted by 3toes

At least the doctors will monitor you for melanoma. Here the GP insists I have not had cancer as requires a specialist to treat not a GP. There is no way an Australian doctor would have treated that themselves. Then you have to fight the GP for a referral to the specialist and join the waiting list.

Next fight is cataracts as you only need to be able to see through one eye to meet heath and social security requirements. Personally I have sort of become used to being able to see through both eyes

Warm climate problems in a cold climate health system

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Sad to hear your NHS is like that 3Toes.

I see my four Docs sending people to private and public specific specialists dozens of times a day. We have some private business which take piciures of your whole body to compare There seems to be some in the UK at https://www.check4cancer.com/404

A dermatologist I see thinks they are not nearly as good as he is[biggrin]

Hope you keep on top of it Grumbles. Great to hear you got on top of this one quickly.

Eternal vigilance for your skin and health care Ladies and Gents

Thanks for the support people......it's great.[thumbsupbig]

Actually an unexpected twist raised its head. I dropped in to see a mate. He was instantly uneasy with me, apprehensive and spoke nervously. Not like him at all in fact quite the opposite. Long story short is he saw each of my wrists was bound with a white bandage. He thought I had tried to do myself a mischief yet he also knew that was most unlike me....confusion reigned.

I have how ever noticed the funny looks on peoples faces though.[bighmmm]

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Originally Posted by Grumbles

Thanks for the support people......it's great.[thumbsupbig]

Actually an unexpected twist raised its head. I dropped in to see a mate. He was instantly uneasy with me, apprehensive and spoke nervously. Not like him at all in fact quite the opposite. Long story short is he saw each of my wrists was bound with a white bandage. He thought I had tried to do myself a mischief yet he also knew that was most unlike me....confusion reigned.

I have how ever noticed the funny looks on peoples faces though.[bighmmm]

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Start Chanting "The End is Nigh" that with the bandages should be fun [biggrin][biggrin]

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Originally Posted by Grumbles

...Couple of weeks ago a freckle on my wrist began to change. It went to a darker brown.

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Not trying to imply your lucky but... Had a friend who died early this year from melanoma. No outward signs of the cancer such as funny moles / freckles etc on the skin which may have raised warning signals were ever found. So it was highly advanced by the time of diagnosis.

Best of luck.

About five years ago I had a VERY lucky escape all because I ripped my arm open on a box staple.

Fast forward a couple of months and it looked a bit "funny" in as much as it didn't seem to healing properly. Off to the doc and he had a really good look at it and decided that because I'm diabetic (type 2) it was probably a thing called hypergranulation and shouldn't be cause for concern.

A couple of weeks later and the "hypergrqanulation" seemed to be getting worse so he sent me off to a skin specialist. He decided to do a biopsy because by just looking he was in two minds. Hypergranulation or a basal cell carcinoma.

The biopsy revealed it was a BCC and he duly booked me in to get it removed. During the process he discovered a small melanoma at the edge of the BCC and left me with a decent hole in my arm (about 3cm) and did a bit of reconstructive surgery to fill that in so what was scheduled to be a 20 minute job took around three hours.

The surgeon reckons that if I hadn't ripped my arm open I would've ended up with a sizeable melanoma developing out of sight.

I'm of pure Scots descent and in my younger days during summer I was very rarely without some sunburn so after that scare every year I get a very thorough checkout by the surgeon. The peace of mind is worth every cent of the expense.

When I was diagnosed fifteen years ago there were three of us in the village area (out of about fifty total) with it. I am the only survivor.

Know how you feel. I've had 2 BCCs cut off my chest in the last 2 years. Plus had a heart attack a month ago. Thank goodness for doctors.

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Originally Posted by Ferret

Not trying to imply your lucky but... Had a friend who died early this year from melanoma. No outward signs of the cancer such as funny moles / freckles etc on the skin which may have raised warning signals were ever found. So it was highly advanced by the time of diagnosis.

Best of luck.

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I didn't know that melanoma could behave like that.

Thanks for the well wishes.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Know how you feel. I've had 2 BCCs cut off my chest in the last 2 years. Plus had a heart attack a month ago. Thank goodness for doctors.

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You've had a couple of close calls Disco. Stay well. I'll second the doctor endorsement.

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Gee but there's been some close calls being spoken about in this thread. I hope all you guys stay well...and happy. [thumbsupbig]