I have cancer

I noticed that I have cancer. I am not going into intensive, or chemo - I'm just saying that I have noticed places on my skin where the tissue exists. Two spots on my leg are from previous scar tissue but are eternally red. Other places, I have spots that are slightly discolored, small - like the size of a pencil eraser - and slightly raised if you look carefully enough - maybe, 2 mm higher than the rest of the surrounding skin.

Everyone has something like this on them. But it is cancer. The skin cells are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. How do you get full-blow cancer from this?

I am guessing there are three things that will trigger this kind of low-grade cancer into full-on melanoma. First, I would pick at it. I think that irritating the area will trigger an inflammation response - and my guess is that is what the cancer is hoping for. Second, I would start eating a diet that would suppress my immune system or otherwise eff with me - things like oily foods, etc. - that could cause my immune system to slip a gear. These things are waiting for me to screw up. And , I guess, third, would be radiation or some other external effect such as this. Anything that would trigger the rupture of blood vessels all around it. Because there has never been a tumor removed from anyone - that wasn't hot, bloody and raw.

Talking to a doctor, that I camped with over last weekend - I learned that medicine tends to take corrective action with a bit less regard for the source of the issue. For example, a stricture in your stomach muscle - can be opened. But it might be there because you're overweight and the reflux knocks back against it. It might relax if you ate less, or worked out - or even switched to a different diet. The muscle memory will fade and the muscle will return to its equillibrium position. What was surprising to me, was , that when I asked him about this particular effect - his response to the question of whether or not he's ever corrected it by a program of weight loss or other physical regimen and he said "I don't know, every one I've had - I've performed the operation on".

It really is up to us to keep ourselves tuned. It would be nice, you know - to have these little spots of skin cut off but I am guessin that this is a kind of trap. I would much rather work them off. I think the future of cancer treatment is to force all cancers into a minor mode like this. Until they dwindle away to nothing. Until then, we'll have stuff like this:

Imiquimod (Aldara™) 5% cream is the first new treatment for superficial basal cell skin cancer in 30 years. The first line treatment for most skin cancers has been their surgical removal. This novel treatment uses another strategy. This drug, which is applied 5 times per week to the superficial basal cell cancer, produces an inflammation. This inflammation is the body's immune response. The drug then directs cells in the skin to produce substances such as interferon and tumour necrosis factor, which is nature's way of attacking viruses and cancers.

Getting down to business: if you think you have skin cancer - use this guide to check to make sure. Check any spot on your skin that is :

A – Asymmetrical – the shape is uneven
B – Border – the border is irregular
C – Colour – the colour is dark brown or black
D – Diameter – it should have a diameter of 0.6cm (the size of a pencil eraser)

E – Evolving – the lesion is evolving or changing