Better safe than sorry, isn't it?

As some of you know I have a fair history with skin cancer. Several spots have already been removed including 2 melanomas and a number of basal cell carcinomas. The funny thing is that with the first, melanoma, you are completely scared. You (at least I) immediately think the worst while people around you say "it will all be fine". And indeed, almost everyone around me is fine, so statistically it has to go wrong with someone at some point, and why wouldn't that be me?..... You sometimes think crazy things... But I have great confidence that it will indeed all be fine.

I now have a quarterly check-up, one time with the dermatologist and the other with the oncologist. So I am being closely monitored. A spot was found in my neck that the dermatologist did not immediately think was harmful but did ask me if I wanted to have it removed. I then think "Gone is gone" so I had it removed. This also turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, it is a type of skin cancer but has the property of not spreading. This can happen with a melanoma.

When they removed the melanoma on my back, they also immediately performed a gatekeeper procedure. They then inject contrast fluid around the melanoma in your body and check via X-ray to which gland the fluid goes. They then remove the first gland and check for cancer cells. If this is clean, it is 98% certain that you do not have metastases. In my case, the gland was clean.

My youngest son also has a predisposition for moles. He has also been to the dermatologist a few times, but there was nothing to worry about. She did ask him if it ran in the family, and then of course he told me my story. She offered to test me for heredity (my brother also had a melanoma). To see if my children could be genetically predisposed. Of course I wanted that, if only to give my children clarity.

I went to a geneticist for this, who asked me a lot of questions about my family, etc. She indicated that the first step was a DNA test in which they check for 6 genes. With 1 gene out of 6, if it deviates, they can determine whether I have an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. She asked me very politely if I would like to know that. (because there are people who prefer not to have that information). She also said directly that pancreatic cancer is normally only noticed when it is too late and that, if I also have this examined, if they discover it early they can perform checks for this. In an early stage they can treat it well. That was a no-brainer for me, of course I want to know what the result is.

I had this test last week and they expect the results in 3-4 weeks. So fingers crossed :)