A few years back, a friend of mine had what she thought was some kind of clogged pore on her face. She thought maybe she needed a good facial, but she found out that she had skin cancer. Her story inspired me to get some spots checked out at that time and luckily, they turned out to be benign. The past couple of weeks, I started noticing a spot on my nose and forehead that was concerning to me so I booked an appointment with my primary care doctor to get a referral to a dermatologist. I was curious as to how long I've had those two spots (I figured they'd also ask at my appointment) and so I started looking back on photos. I found photos as far back as 2020 with them! I have no idea how I overlooked them over the course of the past two years! I do know that with covid spiking, I had put off doctor appointments, so that may have been why. But still, I don't remember ever really being concerned or noticing them until now.
I had my appointment yesterday. It was the first appointment that I have had with my new PCM. Aside from my female checkup last year, it was the first time I had been to a doctor since 2019. My doctor wanted to go through everything. I booked an appointment to get a referral to a dermatologist and I left with a future heart monitor test, a retina specialist referral and a dermatologist referral. Needless to say, my new doctor is quite thorough.
Why a heart monitor test? In 2015, my brother passed away at 40 due to his heart. I have had some heart issues such has high heart rate and what feels like palpatations. When my brother passed away, my doctor at the time wanted to do an echo and put a heart monitor on me for a month, just to make sure all was okay. I had the echo done, but with no follow up, so I am not sure how that went. I never did the 30 day heart monitor. If you read my previous blogs, I mentioned having high anxiety during this time period. I declined the heart monitor because I was just too nervous about it. After all of this, my current doctor wants to go ahead and do the 30 day heart monitor now. I am ready for it.
Why a retina specialist? Well, this one certainly surprised me. Prior to the appointment, I had to fill out a big packet of forms. One of those forms asked if I have ever experienced temporary blindness. I said yes. I honestly was not sure if I should have, given the circumstances, but I did. My doctor asked me about this and now I will tell you about it. When I was about 8-10 years old, or so, I was at Walmart. I remember walking down a main aisle when all of a sudden my eyesight started to fade away to darkness. It freaked me out. I started yelling for my sister as I was bumping into aisle displays. I had my hands out trying to feel around, trying not to fall or bump into anything. I do not know how long this lasted.. maybe a minute, maybe a couple of minutes? I have no idea. I could hear my sister say, "Jaimee, I'm over here!" Later, she told me I was so pale when that happened, it looked like I had seen a ghost. After that, it didn't happen again until I was 18/19 years old. I was working at JCPenneys and as I was walking to the fitting rooms, everything started to fade out again. I knew exactly what was about to happen. I started walking faster to the fitting rooms until it all went dark again. I didn't want anyone to see me lose my eyesight. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way to a hallway next to the fitting rooms. I sat there until my vision came back. Again, I am not sure how long it lasted. Time was not important to me, I was more concerned about whether I was going to get my vision back.
I am now 38 years old, so it has been 20 years since this last happened to me. The doctor asked if I ever got checked out for this and I never did. She said that I needed to go see a retina specialist. I find this surprising because it hasn't happened in so long. I am going to feel kind of silly when I get asked about this by the specialist. With that said, I am not free from eye problems so the appointment won't be a total wash. For the past 3-5 years, or so, I have been dealing with recurrent corneal erosion in my left eye. It is a very painful condition where I will sometimes wake up in serious pain in my left eye. I take eye drops every night to try to minimize it from occurring.
Lastly, I got my dermatologist referral and I am pretty nervous about it. I keep telling myself that it's good that I am getting this taken care of now. That it's very important despite what the results might bring. I asked my PCM what she thought of the spots and she said that she doesn't *THINK* it's pink melonoma, but that she was going to send me to someone who would know for sure. I honestly didn't expect her to say the M word. From what I have researched, I didn't really think it was melonoma, but maybe basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma (no skin cancer would be great!). Now I am more concerned that she mentioned melonoma. Even if she said she doesn't think that's what it is.
I will keep the blog updated regarding everything going forward. I am praying and hoping for the best!
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