Warning...

Well, being a teenager and thinking I was invincible have come back to haunt me.  Almost 13 weeks ago now I went to the doctor for this persistent itching on my left arm.  It was driving me crazy.  I don't know how long it actually itched before I noticed it, but once it was waking me up at night I knew it was time to go to the doctor, because Benidryl and over the counter antihistamines and lotions weren't working.  They first said, hmmmm I don't see anything on your arm to cause itching.  Well no sh&^ Sherlock!  I could have told him that.  He thought he would give me prescription antihistamines and a topical cream to help with the itching.  If it wasn't better in 5 days come back and we will check again.  Well, I did exactly what he said and used the soap he said to use and now I have bumps.  I went back in 5 days and the itching wasn't any better and now he has something to see.  I saw a different doctor and she didn't know what it was, but was going to give me Prednisone and told me to keep taking the other medication the other doctor gave me.  If it was shingles it would get worst and stop the Prednisone.  If not this should help.  Well, I got so sick after 2 days.  I finally stopped the medicines myself and went back on Monday.  I saw the first doctor again and he was clueless and ran a ton of blood work and sent me to my dermatologist.  Her assistant had no clue, but didn't think it was cancer so did a biopsy to see what they were dealing with and how to treat it.  She took me off all the medicines, because apparently the other doctors were over medicating me (hence me getting so sick).  She gave me different cream and lotions to use and a different soap to use.  After 13 days the biopsy came back and it was considered pre-cancer (skin cancer).  I went back in for them to freeze the spots and turns out when i saw the actual doctor the itching was caused from the pre-cancer cells turning into cancer.  Hmmm...  maybe my skin cancer looks different from the other skin cancer.  Not throwing stones, just frustrated it took so stinking long to even get an answer.  Well, after the freezing of over 26 places (oh yes, left arm, chest, face, and back shoulder) the itching wasn't going away.  I call back and they see me again and turns out that wasn't enough and I had additional spots.  Now it was time to be a bit more aggressive.  She opted to do a procedure called PDT which is basically like a radiation treatment.  I had to wait another 2 weeks for healing from the freezing and finally had my procedure this past Monday.  They put this medicine on my arms and put plastic wrap on both arms and I sat for 2 hours (yes, if you know me this was painful) and then they put me under this blue light that activated the medication.  This process burned quite a bit, but nothing I couldn't tolerate.  After the treatment I had to wash my arms with this special soap and then a 2nd cleanser (yes my peeps, it burned like you know what), but again, managed through.  Then I had to coat both arms with sunblock (not sunscreen, sunblock... am I the only person that didn't know there was a difference?) and then put gloves on and then my jacket and go straight home.  I have to stay inside the house, away from windows, keep all blinds closed, and not stand close to household lights because it will not only burn my skin, but can cause scaring.  My 48 hours will be up this afternoon and then I chat with the doctor to determine if I can leave the house tomorrow based on the healing.  The worst part so far has been the headache from the blue light.  I can't seem to get rid of it.  Thank goodness I was able to get something from a neighbor that did ease it up yesterday, but now it's coming back.  The doctor called me something in for the headaches so may once I get that I will feel even better.  You know, the arms haven't been just miserable like I thought.  The living in the dark and staying inside has been the hardest part.  The shower this morning was a bit uncomfortable, but for the most part no longer than the shower was I could tough it out.  Last night was a little uncomfortable with the swelling of the arms and the burning, but hey, they aren't itching 24/7 so for me that is progress!  We will see how tomorrow is.  I'm a little nervous about getting out and exposing my arms to the sun and florescent lighting in the office, but if my head doesn't feel better than it does right now I'm pretty sure I will work from home again tomorrow just for safe keeping.  We will see.  Apparently this procedure is very expensive (I'm scared even with insurance) so I'm telling you now.  If you haven't already caused the damage with the sun start using sunblock.  Sunscreen isn't enough.  You need sunblock with Zinc or Titanium in it and use it every day (apparently that will be part of my new daily schedule).  It's not worth all this when you can either get a spray tan or use it in a bottle.  I've been a freak about taking care of my skin for the last 5 to 10 years, but my damage was done way before that.  Dang it!  I don't care now if I am pasty or not.  I will wear my sunblock and hats (as bad as I look in them) and I will be smarter when I'm outside.  I won't deprive myself of pool time or working in my flower beds, but I will be smarter about it.  If you are older now and you have kids or grand kids, teach them now to be smarter.  The damage is being done when they are young.  I may have to have up to 4 treatments to kill all the cancer cells and while insurance will cover it I will still be responsible for 20% after our deductible and that alone won't be cheap.  Save yourself, your kids, your grand kids, nieces, and nephews from the expense and discomfort of all this and tell them it's just not worth it.  It's really not.  I will be fine.  It may take quite a bit of time and treatments and more discomfort before that happens, but I will be fine.  If it hadn't been driving me crazy with the itching who knows, but if I had it to do over and I truly got that it wasn't good for me, I would do things very differently.  Now you can't say you weren't warned.