It all started with a red mark on my nose that had an unusual feel about it. It never seemed to heal and from experience I knew it needed to be checked. Being on the bridge of my nose I really don't want to have surgery, as it will most likely require a skin graft - front and center on an already ordinary show piece.
Doctor called this one a SCC - Squamous Cell Carcinoma. (Had to Google that one - all my others had been BCC's). canteen.org.au describes SCC as a cancer of the cells at the bottom of the skin's outermost layer.
Dr V recognising that I didn't want surgery so she suggested either Efudix over 3 weeks or Picato over 3 days. She explained that Picato was quite intense over the short period and being a sook, I opted for the 'allegedly' softer option of Efudix over 3 weeks. (insert eye roll)
I read the brochure, did some online diagnosing, spoke with a couple experienced friends and started to plan my treatment. I had been advised to avoid as much sun exposure as possible (In Queensland, in Summer, double eye roll), so I waited till after the weekend to get started.
PICTURE WARNING: RESTING BITCH FACE DOES NOT 'ALWAYS' RESEMBLE THE PERSON INSIDE (I have an awesome resting bitch face, has saved me from a many, unwanted conversations)
Days 1-4 were really very uneventful. No change in appearance of the skin, no pain or discomfort or itching.
By day 5 - I had started to feel the effects. Just some tingling and itching. Could have been my imagination, but felt pretty real to me.
By day 8 - I had started to feel more than uncomfortable, but still had my optimism. 'Looking forward to a Cancer Free Face'. My face started to get dry, a bit sore and a little tight. When I applied the cream I made sure that while it felt moist I moved my face and mouth to stretch my skin. In vain effort to keep my facial mobility, for talking and eating purposes. |
| As you can see from these photos onwards I had lost my sparkle. I was as grumpy as I looked. |
Day 14 - I had by now started to regret my decision to use Efudix. (I will be honest I was being very melodramatic. Don't just read to here and decide this treatment isn't for you) BUT there were sleepless nights. Too much pain, stinging and itching for any quality sleep. Then sleep deprivation induced tears, intolerance of pain and just a general intolerance of anything. At 4am in the morning while I wasn't sleeping I made an appointment with Dr V to discuss stopping the treatment, at least in the center of my face, where you can see is quite red and sore and ulcerated looking. I had read a couple of Blogs on the Efudix treatment, and picked up a tip. My skin was dry, sore, flaky, tight and coming away. What I understood to be the 'erosion' stage. And in this one particular blog it stated that once the erosion stage was reached, that treatment could stop. So I made an executive decision to stop treatment on the center of my face that day, day 14. I still continued to treat my cheeks, temple and forehead.
The pain I described as similar to nasty sunburn and windburn all in one. It was dry and cracked. It felt like it should be cracked and bleeding, though checking regularly in the mirror I assured myself I wasn't.
At this point I likened my experience to that point in child birth where you've laboured bravely for several hours and decided 'to hell with the drug free child birth, give me an epidural NOW', but it's too late. You've come so far, done so well, BUT I WANT OUT! NOW! Sadly nothing one can do but ride it out, begrudgingly.  |
| Day 15 I started healing treatment on the center of my face (nose, mouth, chin), whence the greasy look. |
Day 15 - I started treating my healing area with Vitamin E - which stung. No pain no gain right?!?! And Lucas' Paw Paw ointment - my saving grace.
I did go out shopping with my face looking just like day15 (pretty rough). I called it my 'Heroin addict look'. A toddler in the trolley seat kept saying "Mum Mum Face Face, Mum Mum Face Face". I just giggle to myself. Poor kid, but I did want to say to this kid (and I did to anyone who ever asked) 'this is what happens when you don't wear a hat and sunscreen when you go outside'.
Days 16 - I visited Dr V and discussed my pain and miserable demeanor. She agreed that the inner circle had indeed started eroding and that she would have told me to stop. This was a major relief that I had made the right call (as I truly didn't want to jeopardise my treatment) and somewhat gave me a false ego 🤔🤔(I could be a Doctor).
Days - 17 & 18 - Only a couple short days later the outer areas of my face started to come out in sores. Though not nearly as painful as the center of my face. But I remained miserable & surly, I was too far gone now!
Day 19 onwards - I continued to treat the middle of my face with just Paw Paw Ointment. It felt better than the Vitamin E cream. The VitE cream didn't seem to sooth the dryness in the way the ointment did. And for me the Paw Paw worked amazingly.
Day 21 - 3 weeks of treating the outer of my face and 1 week of healing the inner circle of my face. Despite the photos, I'm in a much better place. Pain was minimal. It looks bad, but it really had been a lot worse.
Day 22 - All greasy with Paw Paw ointment now.
Day 26 - After checking back in with Dr V, I had to do another week of Efudix on my nose (only). The spot that brought me here in the first place did not budge. Still sitting there on the bridge of my nose, bold as brass. Disappointing, but anything to avoid surgery.
As it stands now treatment all over. As you can see by the final photo, all healed. Except for the usual blemishes. The healing for me took nowhere near the predicted 6 weeks. I was sure my Christmas photos were going to be all red and blotchy, with still a week before Christmas not a scar to be seen. Although, even after a further 10 days treatment on my nose, the nasty red spot remains. Went to see Dr V this week about the next step for that stubborn SCC. Now need a shaved biopsy to be sent off. The shave may be enough to fix, but the test results will determine the next step. Either to be 'frozen' off, a skin graft by a plastic surgeon or best case scenario is that the biopsy shave would be enough to remove the damaged cells. I opted to wait till early in the new year before having that procedure done, I was in no mood for the local anesthetic needle (moody bugger), they bloody hurt.
What have I learned from this:
1/ I won't ever do a whole face again. I will do spot treatments, but not an entire face or region in the one go.
2/ I will endeavour to do my treatments during the winter time, as the Queensland sun is very harsh, and avoiding it with two kids is really difficult. Especially with school drop off and pick up.
3/ As soon as a spot on my skin doesn't seem right, don't wait. Get it checked. If you delay even by a couple months, it could be too late for the easier option, and believe it or not, Efudix is the easier option.
4/ 44 years of having a fringe paid off. My forehead above my eyebrows was the least effected. I will not grow out my fringe no matter how tragic 80's I look.
5/ Efudix is a chemotherapy topical cream. Bad cells (cancer cells) are attracted to it, but the good cells are not. So the bad cells are drawn out, and cause the sores & ulcers.
6/ Every single sore and ulcer represents a damaged or cancerous cell. It's not nearby skin getting inflamed in sympathy, if my whole face is full of sores, my whole face was full of bad cells that needed dealing with.
7/ Sun damage does not equal SUN BURN. You don't need to be burnt or even pink to be damaging your skin. Exposure to UV is damaging and it is accumulative. So Slip, Slop, Slap every day, even the ones that don't seem so bad.
Comments
Post a Comment