Published: November 06, 2009 05:06 pm      

Changes good and not-so-good

You know how when you’ve been doing something a certain way for many years, it seems like it’s just second nature?

That’s how I feel about this column. Don’t mean to bust your bubble if you think I spend lots of time putting thought into it — but it just doesn’t work that way. In fact, there is very little around here we do that we have the luxury of putting much thought into. But I digress.

For lo these seven years I’ve been cranking out a column once a week, I’ve managed to slide it sideways, kicking up dirt, writing it at the last minute on Fridays before I leave.

I walk in on Monday of this week, just to be informed that now my column would appear in the Sunday C section — and I know full well what that means (since I do these wedding, engagement, etc. announcements) — that the deadline for it is now much earlier.

Actually, for this week, it may work out. The schedule seems to be packed tight every week, from January to December these days. I do recall back in “the day” when we experienced a sort of lull, a “slow period” as we fondly referred to it. A chance to catch the breath and try to catch up on things that are left wanting in the frantic, chaotic pace of the normal newsroom schedule.

But, with fewer people doing more things, we don’t have the lull anymore, so one has to grab a second when you can and do what needs to be done.

Enough about that. I am rambling.

Allow me a moment to mention something I feel somewhat passionate about. Many of you know my father was taken home to his Savior this summer, after a two-year battle with melanoma. There are several types of skin cancer, from basal cell carcinomas to squamous cells carcinomas, but melanoma is the deadliest.

I’ve mentioned in this space that my dad has one sister, my Aunt Kay, who is a registered nurse. I noticed during the summer when she was here helping care for my dad that she had a spot on her cheek, a sort of flat, light-brown section about the size of a pencil eraser.

I believe I did some nagging at that point, and she recently had it checked by her dermatologist.

It was melanoma.

They told her on a Friday, and did an eight-plus hour surgery on her face Monday. A good bit of tissue was removed, which will result in a rather noticeable scar, I imagine. But, they got what is called “clear margins,” and for that we are very grateful. That means her melanoma had not spread throughout her body like my dad’s did.

As I write this on Tuesday evening, I am praying for my Uncle Hurley (her husband) who will have a melanoma removed from his arm in the morning.

These folks have been through so much already — breast cancer, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s, cataract surgery — I pray fervently that his outcome is as good as hers with her melanoma.

Please, please people — allow a dermatologist to check you over once a year. If you have anyone in your blood lineage with melanoma, your risk increases greatly — and yearly checks are a must. Don’t just leave it to your family practitioner — he is good at lots of things, but dermatologists are trained to spot strange things on your skin.

It sure doesn’t hurt to keep any eye on your own skin, and note anything that changes — shape, size, symmetry or color. If you do see something like that — get yourself to a dermatologist. Do not delay.

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Deanna Brown is a Daily Sun staff writer and editor of “Explore.” Her column appears on Sundays. She may be contacted via e-mail at deanna@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.