Skin issues
The day I embarked on my last autumn hike, into the Eyre Mountains for eight days, I felt a small lump on the top of my ear.
Yikes!
Over the week, it grew and had me somewhat concerned. I had been living in Melbourne when a 20-something had discovered she had melanoma after using sunbeds on 20 occasions. Three weeks later, she died, leading Australia to ban all sunbeds except in the Northern Territory.
Despite my concern, I thought I’d finish this final Little Adventure of the autumn season and then make haste up to Nelson. To be honest, during that week in the hills, it was generally on my mind.
As soon as I was back within cell phone range, I booked an assessment at the Skin Institute. The ear issue I was concerned with turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, which is relatively benign. At least it generally develops slowly with the nasty bit. What was more concerning to the practice nurse was a dark patch under a sideburn, if I had one. I didn’t even notice it as it was on my jaw, below my ear in the shadow, and I don’t spend a lot of time looking in mirrors.
Another consultation was needed to do biopsies of both areas. Results would be in three weeks, or I could pay $200 each for an 18-hour turnaround. By now, it had been two weeks since I had noticed the issue, so the expedited option seemed more obvious.
It came back with bad news. I needed more extensive excisions to be sure it was all cleared. Good news, it could all be done under local anaesthetic, and the surgeon swabbed down both areas. No, that turned out to be the actual operation. It was bandaged, and before I knew it, I was on my way.
Two weeks later, I had the all clear, but I’ve signed up for annual checks to catch any future concerning areas before they become serious health issues.
Better that than the alternative.