huttriverofnz

I posted a story on one of my other blogsites, Kiwi Riverman, late last year after being diagnosed as having facial skin cancers. While one on my forehead has healed by using a special cream, the other on the left side of my face has just failed to do so; I have had a small scabbed sore that refuses to heal, despite a couple of previous biopsies. I have become frustrated and occasionally annoyed. I recall what I wrote last year:

“Skin cancer just become personal for me  -  I have been diagnosed as having basal cell cancer on my face.”

It is usually found on the face and seldom on other parts of the body. I put my cancers down to my early adulthood when I failed to take precautions when in the sun working or sunbathing etc. A  foolish young  man who seldom wore a hat in my earlier days during the 1960’s and 70’s. But the irony is as children we were taught to wear hats and not to stay uncovered for too long in the sun. Oh, the foolishness of youth!

While my skin cancers are benign and treatable by biopsies or  special creams, they are not the black melanoma, a death sentence for many victims if not treated early enough. The melanoma tumours develop from pigment cells. New Zealand has the highest death rate in the world, followed by Australia. These can be attributed to the large ozone hole in the stratosphere which is present during southern summers.

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