Basal Cell Carcinoma

Good morning all. I hope you are all doing well.
DH slept better last night but still has a headache. He has to return to see the Practice Nurse on Friday morning.
I think he is very surprised that he feels the way he does.
He had one removed about 4 years ago and says it was nothing like this.
I think they must have cut quite a big area of his forehead. It is covered so he cannot see what has been done.
He was very grumpy over the weekend and I felt like I couldn't do anything right. Good job I love him !!!!!!

Hope all goes well today Sunflower2 xxx

Updates on individual progress are so beneficial to us all, much more realistic than the theory

Your dh is needing real rest sar, it is much harder to heal when we are older and the immune system needs to concentrate on the wound. Immune sytem is a very big body system that takes a lot of bodily resources. Easy meals and smoothies are best, not to overload the stomach

Even my cryo procedure knocked me back and for seven days I have just gently pottered and only around the house. My situation on day 8 is that I felt like gentle gardening but nothing more strenuous, yet

Day eight and oozing has all but stopped, crusting is almost complete, is a thick white scab and is itchy at times. Vaseline is invaluable as are cotton tops and dresses as they are against my removed back mole, which I cover in vaseline using a long handled silicone spoon. Healing is continuing and it will be at least day ten days before my nose scab partly removes itself. There is no solution that fits all, particularly at 75 when healing is much slower. I am guessing 14-15 days, when I hope to see red new skin

Sunflower are you feeling ok oday?

How are you coping after your procedure, sunflower? I hope all went well and you are doing ok.

I am surprised at people saying on here that they have been told that (on the NHS), there is upto a twelve months wait to check is something is a BCC.

Sorry, sounds to me a little bit of salesmanship to encourage se of private medicine.

I went to my GP with spot on my nose that was not clearing up. Was referred to hosptial to Dermatologist. As suspicion this could be BCC, referral came under Cancer care and received an appointment a fortnight later. Would not have been any quicker if I had had it done privately.

This time I was fortunate, NOT a BCC.

Hi all,
Update on yesterday’s appointment. I arrived at 8.59 for a 9.15 appointment. I was questioned at the reception desk which was in the waiting room, by a woman who had previously been chatting animatedly to her colleagues, and had indicated to me by raising 2 of her fingers from across the large reception area, that she would be 2 minutes. I was not impressed as she was clearly not talking about a medical issue! When she came over I had to answer her questions through a gap in the window a couple of inches wide so all the waiting room could hear. Personal info. like name, address, date of birth, religion. I was not impressed. I have to say I was called quite quickly after that into a room where a young man had read my notes. Despite there being a bed and two chairs in the room, I wasn’t invited to sit down, so I stood there. He looked at the spot on my face and said he thought it looked like a squamous cell carcinoma and would arranged for it to be ‘cut out’. I’d have preferred ‘removed’ or some other less emotive phrase. In my mind I was thinking, ‘What? Now?’ I still hadn’t been invited to sit down. So as I stood there he asked me a few questions about it. He then said from his seat that I’d get a letter in 4 to 6 weeks. I was stunned. Is that just a letter or a letter with an appointment date? I showed him a rash on my face which had developed around the same time I had been to the doctors and he couldn’t identify it but asked if I would like some emollient samples. He then produced several tester sized emollient tubes and gave them to me. When I expressed the stress of waiting just for this appointment for two weeks he said it was the summer and they were busy.
The first 15 minutes of parking is free and you pay as you go out. I was 3 minutes over the 15 minutes in total and was charged for the next time period which was 2 hours. £2.50. I’m still in a bit of shock at the speed of the appointment. Am now looking into going private although my local Nuffield has even longer waiting lists. Clearly everyone is going private if they can afford it. I think today will be spent on the phone.

Thank you to everyone who enquired how my appointment went. I really appreciate it. I’ll keep you updated.

Wishing everyone who’s had the op well and speedy recovery.

karmalady

Just to say that I am thinking of you today sunflower

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Sar53

Hope all goes well today Sunflower2 xxx

Thank you so much!

I have an SCC on my leg, I went to our GP 4 weeks ago tomorrow, he prescribed Efudix cream which I have to use once daily. I have an appointment tomorrow for him to check it. It has definitely changed. I have pictures if anyone would like to see, nothing gory.

LadyGracie

I have an SCC on my leg, I went to our GP 4 weeks ago tomorrow, he prescribed Efudix cream which I have to use once daily. I have an appointment tomorrow for him to check it. It has definitely changed. I have pictures if anyone would like to see, nothing gory.

Been on Efudix many times. You have to be very precise and only apply it to the exact spot ……. I use a cotton bud. If you get it on healthy skin it will go red raw.

Franbern

I am surprised at people saying on here that they have been told that (on the NHS), there is upto a twelve months wait to check is something is a BCC.

Sorry, sounds to me a little bit of salesmanship to encourage se of private medicine.

I went to my GP with spot on my nose that was not clearing up. Was referred to hosptial to Dermatologist. As suspicion this could be BCC, referral came under Cancer care and received an appointment a fortnight later. Would not have been any quicker if I had had it done privately.

This time I was fortunate, NOT a BCC.

I waited nearly 4 years. I’ve posted a photo of the result on another thread. Not pretty.
Now I’m unsure if I should sue or not. I don’t want to because I can live with my nose now. But I really do want the medics involved to know how wrong they were and how dismissive of me.
I had already had a BCC and the one on my nose was behaving just like one. That’s because it was one!

I’ve been watching this thread with interest and slowly growing alarm. Last year OH showed concern about some marks on my back which I laughed off. I’m getting older, old people get brown patches etc… well, he pointed them out again recently so I listened. My skin is my current worry, it’s too dry, lots of eczema patches, more moles than before and now this. I haven’t seen a GP since 2017 and lost confidence in our village surgery and have been lucky health-wise but have taken the plunge and registered with a different surgery and made an appointment for next week to get these worrying marks looked at. Fingers crossed.

Sidelined

I’ve been watching this thread with interest and slowly growing alarm. Last year OH showed concern about some marks on my back which I laughed off. I’m getting older, old people get brown patches etc… well, he pointed them out again recently so I listened. My skin is my current worry, it’s too dry, lots of eczema patches, more moles than before and now this. I haven’t seen a GP since 2017 and lost confidence in our village surgery and have been lucky health-wise but have taken the plunge and registered with a different surgery and made an appointment for next week to get these worrying marks looked at. Fingers crossed.

Very best of luck. I’m sure it’s best to do it, scary though it is.

Sunflower the difference between who you saw and who I saw is immense. I would have had no confidence at all in the person that you saw. Mine sat me down, chatted to me to put me at ease and looked very carefully at my lesions with a scope and said they were definitely actinic keratosis and not skin cancer. There lies the difference between someone who is very experienced and someone who is not. I went in thinking that I had the start of squamous cell carcinoma

If yours thinks it looks like an scc, then did he arrange a biopsy?

Sunflower, have a look at your local hospital website, to see if they have a private wing, most have. They may well have a private dermatologist. It would be worth a phone call to the private wing receptionist

I repeat, that my consultation and treatment was worth every penny. I am especially re-assured that he will be having another check in november

The nasty scab came off today and I now feel that I can face people. I have just ordered a sun protector for my nose, for when I go cycling. My nose is still in early healing stage and is still raw, I cannot use sunscreen until the new cells form. The protector clips over the centre of my overglasses

Sidelined, I hope you are reassured next week.

karmalady

Sunflower the difference between who you saw and who I saw is immense. I would have had no confidence at all in the person that you saw. Mine sat me down, chatted to me to put me at ease and looked very carefully at my lesions with a scope and said they were definitely actinic keratosis and not skin cancer. There lies the difference between someone who is very experienced and someone who is not. I went in thinking that I had the start of squamous cell carcinoma

If yours thinks it looks like an scc, then did he arrange a biopsy?

Sunflower, have a look at your local hospital website, to see if they have a private wing, most have. They may well have a private dermatologist. It would be worth a phone call to the private wing receptionist

I repeat, that my consultation and treatment was worth every penny. I am especially re-assured that he will be having another check in november

The nasty scab came off today and I now feel that I can face people. I have just ordered a sun protector for my nose, for when I go cycling. My nose is still in early healing stage and is still raw, I cannot use sunscreen until the new cells form. The protector clips over the centre of my overglasses

Thanks Karmalady.
The difference does sound immense. No, he didn’t suggest a biopsy. He looked at it, while I was standing up, through a lens type thing and just said it looks like scc. We’ll cut that out.
I have contacted several private hospitals/clinics today. 2 are getting back to me. The Nuffield has a waiting list as long as NHS. I’ll check if there’s one at my local hospital.

Glad your scab has come off and you can face people again. The nose protector sounds like a good idea.

I’d love to know your opinion of the nose protector karmalady. I did google them but thought they looked huge.

Yes they look big but there are two sizes and I got the standard size. Mine were from purple turtle. There is no way I can protect my nose at the moment, until they arrive and I am missing my cycling

DH saw his doctor this morning and has been put on a course of antibiotics, just in case. The wound on his forehead is not healing and he has been told it could be weeks before it does.
The nurse has redressed it, although not very well.
We had a quick peek and it really doesn't look good.
DH told the nurse that it was the end of his modelling career !!!!!

He has to rest sar, plenty of rest with immune boosting foods containing vitamin c. His body has a very big job of healing ahead

My healing is still going on, the big top scab falling off has revealed a new smaller scab being formed, obviously much deeper skin destruction in that area, which is where I thought I saw squamous cell. He must have used cryo more intensively right there. 12 days for me and I am not there yet and still being very careful. It can easily take over two months for new skin cells to generate in an adult over 50. Over 75 and I am thinking three months

I saw my GP with my SCC on my leg yesterday. I have to use the Efudix cream for another 4 weeks then have another check up.

Good luck ladygracie

The nose protectors came today and will, I think, be very good. They are lightweight with a good firm clip in the centre and have lines for cutting to make standard into small. I won`t wear any until my cryo lesion stops weeping as the cover is in contact with nose, there is a stuck-on square of gauze inside. I would buy these again

Thank you and good luck to you too karmalady.

Sar, how is dh?