juke52
New User
Joined: 24 Oct 2009
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:32 am Post subject: 23 yo college student with basal/squamous cell |
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Hi everyone, just had to find a place to vent, i'm not savvy on dwelling on it for too long because it depresses the hell out of me, but here goes:
I'm a biology major about to graduate penn state and was just prepared to deal with college debt and working dead end jobs and basically staying above water since I'm pretty much bottom of the heap, financially. Last summer (2008), I went to study abroad for penn state in the skin cancer capital of the world, Australia.
Long story short, I'm a pretty tanned Italian guy, but on the underside of my arms and my feet, they have a pretty fair complexion. I figure that's why they started to appear there. Obvious ring-like lesions with light-colored centers. One on my left ankle, my right hand, and the most obvious one on my left wrist.
Now in the back of my head, I immediately began to think up solutions or approaches to take. I am not rich. My parents have bad credit. My dad's trying to sell his home and move to Alaska. I have 2 cards myself that I thankfully keep ahead of. I'm graduating this semester just barely because my classes are pretty rigorous this year and wanted to pursue teaching.
At first, I tried to push it aside in order to focus on my work, knowing that I will see a dermatologist very soon, preferably in Dec/Jan when I'm done.
But, the plot thickens as I sit in calc class, trying to understand what looks like greek to me, all the while I look down at my wrist after I itched it, and noticed a small, very small, smaller than a pencil tip...dot of blood from that ring-like mole. Now before, I had a good idea what it was and dad of course thought I was crazy, even myself feeling like I could never get cancer. I wash my hands religiously, and since a recent cavity, I've brushed almost everyday.
The feelings running through my head in class were pretty overwhelming. I have no money. I have no insurance. My odds are pretty slim. Getting a blood test and biospy I figure is at least $5000, let alone finally slicing or shrinking it out. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, my friend has been diagnosed with cancer and has been in and out of chemo, and now I really feel for him. His girlfriend has talked to me about it and has told me how just about anyone in her life she gets close to seem to be pulled away from her, apparently I'm added to this list, but anyway
Since then, I noticed the mole on the wrist has a slightly raised surface now as I write this, and I have a huge calc test in a week so it's a battle to balance all this weight while learning it all.
I have been to the ER and they referred me to some dermatologists in the area, but again, that requires some creative efforts to get money, or at least a good insurance plan. I used a discount plan for my dental work, and I've had to back out several times because of money, as he did the minimum patch-up job to quell the swelling, so I'm just buying myself time with that.
so much for long story short heh, but basically, the wrist mole has bled once and I see a small scab (literally a pencil tip dot) has since covered it, but I'm sure it would bleed again if I itched it.
I'm pretty sure it's basal cell or squamous cell, the only comfort I have is its low metastasis and high cure rate if treated quickly. How quickly it gets treated is up to me. Time to get creative.
Expect the worst, hope for the best. |
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HaoleBoy
Senior User
Joined: 19 Aug 2008
Posts: 108
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject: Re: 23 yo college student with basal/squamous cell |
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Juke, first, I woudn't stress myself out over this at this precise juncture in time -- you're already under enough stress.... Some thoughts of mine:
- Don't try to diagnose yourself...skin disorders are easily misdiagnosed all the time by MDs who are board certified in dermatology....and it's potentially dangerous in the extreme....
- Basal and squamous cell cancer normally affect people one helluva alot older than 23 years of age, it arises from chronic, sustained sun exposure... Frankly, I have never heard of anyone as young as you getting squamous or basal cell; particularly someone whom I suspect is a dark phenotype (I'm presuming that you have dark hair and dark eyes and are not Northern Italian -- perhaps presumptious on my part)
-- Stress can cause a myriad of skin disorders... When I was 23, I was an Army First Lieutenant, assigned to a unit in Germany during the Cold War, and in charge of 18 tactical nuclear weapons (among other things).... I remember coming out of a month in the field for training and having 10 days to get ready for a plethora of Inspector General inspections on my unit's nuke weapons program and checking whether or not we were properly monitoring soldiers assigned to nuclear duty positions.... It was a true zero defects program -- one mistake and your career was over .... By the time we had completed (and passed) three successive inspections, I had stress-related gum ulcers and an outbreak of seborrhoeic dermatitis on my face, which I had never experienced before either in undergrad or in grad school...
- On the other hand, melanoma can and does strike young people unfortunately... Do not try to diagnose yourself using the ABCDs ! I'm talking from experience... I have Stage IIA melanoma and my primary tumor didn't follow the damn ABCDs.... Bottom line is that your skin has undergone change and has a lesion... There are many explanations for this and stress is a common causal factor for skin disorders...
-- If you have a mole that is changing, you need to see a derm without delay....while melanoma is a rare disease, it is life threatening....
-- In regard to financial assistance, if your parents can't help, nor any other relatives (grandparents ?, uncles or aunts), then I would see if Penn State doesn't have some resources which could help... It's a first rate university with a highly regarded Medical School if I recall correctly........And if Penn doesn't have anything, I would seek assistance from the State of Pennyslvannia (be thankful you're not in one of the more backward southern states like Mississippi or Louisiana, or Arkansas).... I would think that Penn could at least point you in the right direction if nothing else.....
Juke, sorry if this doesn't help you but wishing you the best and that this pans out as much ado about nothing....
Regards and Aloha from Hawaii,
Hawaii Bob
P.S.
A biopsy and a blood test won't run you $5K... not even close....And I doubt spending a summer in Oz in 2008 has anything to do with this.... Skin cancer -- whether melanoma or the "nicer" basal or less nice squamous cell (WHICH BTW accounts for 15% of all deaths from skin cancer; mel chalks up the vast majority at about 85%) -- takes years to develop from the initial cellular misfire/mutation to palpable or noticeable lesion... |
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