The Big "C"

We found out this week that my husband has cancer.

He has basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer there is.

Not gonna lie, I'm a little freaked out about it all. I have heard though, from friends in the know, that this is not a big thing, although it sure feels like a big thing to me!  I guess though, that if you have to have cancer, basal cell is the kind to have.

Still....the big "C" word? Scary....

It started out as a little bump by his eye. He didn't think anything of it. Just thought it was a little blemish or something. It started to go away....but it didn't... and it hasn't.

This had been going on for like 8 or 9 months. Yes, you read that correctly. Now, it is more like a "hole" that just.won't.heal. I tried getting him to go and get it checked out. He refused. He said that it was healing on it's own, it was just taking time. Men...

Finally, after the girls and I begged and pleaded, he finally made an appointment to go and get it checked out. Our primary care physician said he thought it looked like basal cell skin cancer. He sent him to an eye doctor to get it taken care of.

When we were in the office, filling out the multiple forms, I couldn't help overhearing a conversation. There was a lady in a wheelchair, who was being attended by another elderly lady. She was also filling out the required forms. Apparently, the elderly lady in the wheelchair was very hard of hearing, and also had trouble with her eyes.

We will call the two ladies Ethel and Mildred to protect the innocent. Their conversation went something like this:

Mildred: Now, Ethel (lady in the wheelchair), I'm going to read you this list of things, and you need to tell me which ones you have, or have had in the past. Okay? Here we go.  Have you ever had the mumps?

Ethel: What? What did you say?

Mildred: THE MUMPS, ETHEL. HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE MUMPS?

Ethel: No.

Mildred: Okay....are you anemic?

Ethel: AM I WHAT?

Mildred: I ASKED YOU IF YOU WERE ANEMIC!

Ethel: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Mildred: It means that you have low iron levels in your blood.

Ethel: WHAT ABOUT MY BLOOD?

*Sigh*

And, so it continued. Through the entire list. Tuberculosis, measles, rubella.... could she possibly be pregnant? I think I could have answered that one for her, due to her advanced age.

This doctor also thought it was skin cancer, but Hubs still had to have a biopsy done, which was just all sorts of fun for him. Now, he is going to have to have it surgically removed.

This particular doctor could have removed it,  but it would have had to be done in the hospital. He also mentioned that he may have to do a possible skin graft from his eyelid to close it up if the skin wouldn't stretch enough.

So....

We are going for a consultation with a dermatologist who specializes in Mohs surgery. We know someone who had it done, and she barely even has a scar. We are praying that Hubs' cancer is not very deep, and that it won't be very difficult to remove. He should have had it done a long time ago...

I asked the doctor how he could have gotten it by his eye, since it is normally covered with sunglasses. He said that it was most likely due to sun exposure he received as a child. Back when he and I were kids, sunscreen wasn't really used very much, if at all.

I can remember getting so brown every summer with nary a sunscreen bottle in sight. Hubs can remember getting several bad sunburns. Now, we know so much more about the sun, and the harm that it can cause, that I make sure my girls slather on that sunscreen! I have even been known to offer it to others at the beach if I see that they didn't bring any with them.

*If you happen to get it in your hair, you can read here about how to get it out. It is one of my most popular blog posts :)

So, now we wait, which to me, is just sheer torture! I just want it to be over and done with already.

Like yesterday.

Hubs does not seem overly concerned about it all, but I think that I am sufficiently concerned enough for the both of us! He tends to want to know  as little as possible, where as I feel the need to research everything to death.

I'm trying to remember this:

* ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

* Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail). Psalm 55:22

* Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  -Deuteronomy 31:6

And, one last one....

* You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
-Isaiah 26:3