Wear your sunscreen, kids (Read 1547 times)


tomatolover

    We're back from the OR.  Hubby has one fewer lymph node and a hunk of skin 3cm x 6cm missing, but now has a Franken-scar on his right forearm and another in his armpit that he can show people who still believe that sun exposure is a no-big-deal thing.  Looks like we caught things early, but we'll have a better idea of the long-term prognosis when he has a follow-up.  He's going to have 2/yearly skin exams for at least a year.  Now I look at EVERY mole on his body as the enemy...and he has a lot of 'em.


    Long day...take good care of your skin, friends.  It's your largest organ and a very delicate one, all things considered.

     

    Very scary!  thank god you caught it early-....

    Purdey


    Self anointed title

      Zoomy. 

       

      So so glad to hear that all is well.

       

      Well done you.  Your DH should be very very grateful indeed.

       

       


      Kalsarikännit

        At 20 years old I had a mole on my ankle removed.  They determined that it was melanoma, and that it went VERY deep.  A wide area, down to the muscle was removed, just to make sure that they got the full area around it.  Then they determined that they didn't remove enough, so two months later they went in and did it again.  They explained that considering the depth, and how long I had probably had melanoma, they were extremely concerned about cancer spreading to my lymph nodes.  The doctor actually gave me a 50% chance of surviving 5 years.  Funny thing is, the next semester, in my anatomy/physiology textbook, the pictures I saw of melanoma could have been mine.  It was the exact same...I just had no idea.  Now I'm 35 and have had spots removed, but have never had another problem.  I know I can be better with my sunscreen use, though.

         

        As a teenager I burned to the point of blistering.  In college I went to the tanning beds.  I've found that people that use tanning beds are under the impression that they are safe. Or that nothing will happen to them.   I hear a lot of stuff about not burning and developing a base. They are not safe.   UVA light actually goes deeper into the skin.

         

        More research keeps coming out that a great deal of one's sun damage comes as a child.  Considering that (and the fact that RA'ers seem to be voracious breeders ) I would not only make sure that you use sunscreen, but are vigilant about using sunscreen on the kids at all times.

         

        Zoomy, your husband is lucky to have you.  (And so are we!  )

         

        BTW...My Bally's has tanning beds.  Ridiculous.  It's like them selling cigarettes to help with weight loss.

        I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

         


        Feeling the growl again

          Very glad to hear they stopped at 1 node.  That's good news.

           

          I work with melanoma.  While it's easy to catch and treat early, it's one of the worst cancers once it spreads.  I regret that I did not get vigilant with sunscreen until grad school (though I did not burn much as a kid).  I am hyper-cautious applying to my kids now.

           

          Cancer is a disease that typically develops over time.   Protect your kids while you have control over them, even if they rebel later on those early years are more important in the long run than the later ones!

          "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

           

          I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

           

            We're back from the OR.  Hubby has one fewer lymph node and a hunk of skin 3cm x 6cm missing, but now has a Franken-scar on his right forearm and another in his armpit that he can show people who still believe that sun exposure is a no-big-deal thing.  Looks like we caught things early, but we'll have a better idea of the long-term prognosis when he has a follow-up.  He's going to have 2/yearly skin exams for at least a year.  Now I look at EVERY mole on his body as the enemy...and he has a lot of 'em.


            Long day...take good care of your skin, friends.  It's your largest organ and a very delicate one, all things considered.

             Smile

            "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus

               

              As for recommendations, I'm a fan of the Coppertone Sport spray...the stuff in the aerosol can. 

               

              Just got this thread now.  I'm a bit slow...  Glad it was taken care of early enough.

               

              However, this caught my eyes.  Isn't this sort of defeating the purpose?  Ozone layers do something for us.  Have you tried Kinesys product?  I believe theirs sre just non-aerosol spray???

               

              When I was in New Zealand, the Old Man had his skin cancer removed.  He told me that they have the strongest level of Ultra Violet ray in New Zealand.  If you leave plain clear glass bottle out in the sun, it turns purple; he said. 


              Feeling the growl again

                 

                Just got this thread now.  I'm a bit slow...  Glad it was taken care of early enough.

                 

                However, this caught my eyes.  Isn't this sort of defeating the purpose?  Ozone layers do something for us.  Have you tried Kinesys product?  I believe theirs sre just non-aerosol spray???

                 

                When I was in New Zealand, the Old Man had his skin cancer removed.  He told me that they have the strongest level of Ultra Violet ray in New Zealand.  If you leave plain clear glass bottle out in the sun, it turns purple; he said. 

                 

                Modern aerosols don't use CFCs anymore I think...

                 

                New Zealand has the highers per-capita incidence in the world of melanoma, Australia is second, due to the re-location of very pasty Europeans to populate there.

                "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                 

                I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                 

                   Modern aerosols don't use CFCs anymore I think...

                   

                  They don't?  I was actually involved in some spray product production in my earlier life and that was the time they were trying to switch.  We tried some sort of rubber bladder technology and all but I thought, technically, they are not quite called "aerosole".  Either way, might as well if they don't use it any more regardless of what they call it.

                   

                  Interestingly, at that time, my brother in Japan was also involved in aerosole product in Japan and we exchanged some information.  We are completely opposite in personalities.  My mom used to say that; my brother is a kind of a guy who drops food on the table and he wouldn't eat it.  I'm a kind of a guy who drops food on the floor and still eats it!--very different.  Yet, 30+ years later in life, we were doing the same thing in opposite ends of the Pacific...  Life is funny.

                  zoom-zoom


                  rectumdamnnearkilledem

                      

                    As a teenager I burned to the point of blistering.  In college I went to the tanning beds.  I've found that people that use tanning beds are under the impression that they are safe. Or that nothing will happen to them.   I hear a lot of stuff about not burning and developing a base. They are not safe.   UVA light actually goes deeper into the skin.

                     

                    More research keeps coming out that a great deal of one's sun damage comes as a child.  Considering that (and the fact that RA'ers seem to be voracious breeders ) I would not only make sure that you use sunscreen, but are vigilant about using sunscreen on the kids at all times.

                     

                    Zoomy, your husband is lucky to have you.  (And so are we!  )

                     

                    BTW...My Bally's has tanning beds.  Ridiculous.  It's like them selling cigarettes to help with weight loss.

                     

                    You make an excellent point about Bally's and tanning.  And I'm amazed at the tanning culture here in MI.  Something very popular around these parts are tanning salons built into laundromats--so people can "do something" while they wait for their clothes to dry.


                    I, too, have had blisters from sunburn (in my defense, I had put on sunblock, but forgot my ears--man, that is a nasty side-effect of sunburn...when the blisters popped I had blister juice in my hair.  Gross), have done the stupid tanning bed, laid in the sun with nothing more between my skin and the sun than baby oil (I got the burn of my life from that one -- well-deserved).  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  I chalk up a lot of our culture's tanning habits to the same sort of mindset that gets teenagers in trouble on a regular basis--that whole "it can't happen to me" deal.


                    Like most of us I suffered a lot of burns as a kid...in the 70s we didn't know what we did now and we didn't have nearly the options.  I hope my son's generation can avoid a lot of the cancer issues that we and our parents have battled.  He's had a few episodes where we didn't reapply sunblock or should have applied even for a relatively short amount of time out later in the day.  He's had some mildly pink bits, but nothing like what most of us dealt with early in life.  My younger sister once got so badly burned on a field trip to a water park (when the chaperones should have had the kids to reapply every couple of hours, at least) that she had to take a course of steroids to treat the pain and swelling.  She's very pasty and freckled, so I think it's safe to assume that skin cancer will be in her future, too.

                    Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                    remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                         ~ Sarah Kay

                    zoom-zoom


                    rectumdamnnearkilledem

                      Nobby, CFC propellant was banned in aerosols quite a while back.  Of course we still have tons of aerosol products, but they use something other than CFC for propellant.

                      Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                      remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                           ~ Sarah Kay

                        Nobby, CFC propellant was banned in aerosols quite a while back.  Of course we still have tons of aerosol products, but they use something other than CFC for propellant.

                         

                        Sorry!  So much for having worked in that industry! ;o)

                        zoom-zoom


                        rectumdamnnearkilledem

                           

                          Sorry!  So much for having worked in that industry! ;o)

                           

                          Until just a few years back Albuterol asthma inhalers still used CFC.  It was kinda nice...they were generic, they worked well.  Then they changed to the ozone-friendly propellant and it suddenly went back to $$ and a lot of people (me included) find that it's not delivered as effectively and that the nozzle clogs after just a couple of sprays.  So I get to pay more for a drug that doesn't work as well, but at least I'm not burning a hole in the ozone layer. Tongue

                          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                               ~ Sarah Kay

                          AmoresPerros


                          Options,Account, Forums

                            Didn't put it on for race this morning, but put it on carefully for afternoon workout - so hopefully I get half a star.

                            It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.


                            Team HTFU NCTR Driver

                              Nobby, CFC propellant was banned in aerosols quite a while back.  Of course we still have tons of aerosol products, but they use something other than CFC for propellant.

                               

                              It's not uncommonly propane. Go figure.

                              did




                              Team HTFU NCTR Driver

                                 

                                Modern aerosols don't use CFCs anymore I think...

                                 

                                New Zealand has the highers per-capita incidence in the world of melanoma, Australia is second, due to the re-location of very pasty Europeans to populate there.

                                 

                                And due to the southern hole in the ozone layer...