When I visited the consultant, he remarked casually during the conversation that ‘Lip cancer is a terrible way to die’ – and it happens after they cut off your lips to try to save you. He also said that I had had my ‘lifetime’s supply of sun’ which seemed ironic as I had lived in rainy England – with a general reluctance to go outside – for 40 years.
In some ways it was still a relief to get this diagnosis, as no Doctor had previously been able to understand why I kept getting sores around my mouth. At first they were sure it was NOT cancer, because it moved from side to side. But once they tested it for a viral infection (nope), late onset cold sores/herpes (nope), bacterial (nope), a fungal infection (nope), and iron deficiency (nope), they figured it must be cancer. And I did have Keratosis, which is skin damage which probably resulted from my childhood. Keratosis is actually not that bad, millions of people have damage from the sun somewhere on their body. It just has to be watched carefully. And also having skin cancer generally is not that bad – because it happens on the skin, it is spotted so much quicker than other types of cancer and can be treated early.
Still, I decided to have a second opinion and a family friend connected me to a top dermatologist doctor in a large city in the country where I grew up. This Doctor had fancy diagnostic equipment and she said the pre-cancerous keratosis was ‘on the turn’ and she was willing to laser it off for me there and then, for a reasonable price. I had never heard of lasering off sun damage. When I mentioned it to my brother, he said that he had it done the previous year and it was no big deal! A few minutes later – not pleasant of course, and with dark blue scars around my mouth – it was done. I was given some steroid cream which healed the scars quickly, and was then told I absolutely had to return in two months.
Well you don’t mess around with cancer and my partner was very supportive so we emptied our bank account and I went back…. lots more tests and then I was given the all clear. In fact, the laser treatment had worked all well that there was zero sign of any sun damage! Suddenly the Cancer shadow was off my back, and also it turned out that I could continue to go out in the sun (with the Factor 50 and hats which I had worn before anyway) during the remainder of my lifetime after all.
But guess what, the sores came back! Big and ugly. They clear up quickly when I apply the steroid cream – but soon I will run out. So back to the NHS I go. I felt very discouraged and went on various websites seeing if I could find a story like mine.
The point of Stozzys is to some day allow people to ‘join the dots’ via personal testimony around a common issue. So this is my contribution … and my theory, which is that my sores are caused by mercury from a bad lobster eaten during lockdown. I spat out the lobster immediately but there was a huge amount of saliva generated for some reason, which covered my mouth and chin area for what felt like hours. And that was the start of my mouth sores (18 months ago). So wish me luck finding an NHS dermatologist who can help me, whether it turn out to be mercury poisoning or anything else. I can still remember the look on the face of my cancer doctor (during my second visit) who despite being one of the best in the country, said ‘I have no idea what those are.’
Feeling inspired? If you’d like to share your true life story with the stozzys.com community, you can do so here.