Day 9 Drying Out and Kicking Myself for Being So Stupid!!!

My Father in Law had to go in for surgery today to remove lymph glands that his skin cancer has spread to. That is what we want to avoid, letting it grow and spread.  It's bad news once it gets into the lymph glands.  My Father in Law is a retired Marine.  The guy is a tough one.  Anyone can get skin cancer though.  I lost my own father to  cancer about 5 years ago, so that is always in the back of my mind.  Our prayers are with my Father in Law, and my boys Grandfather, I hope they get it all out and he heals quickly.
 
My skin is starting to dry out and peel off.  I always wash my face with a washcloth right after I shower.  Today I had to be careful because 1.) it hurts, and 2.) my skin was coming off with the washcloth.  I actually think the top layers of my skin are dead, so the pain has eased just a bit.  I'm taking Ibuprofen today to stay comfortable. 

This is the busiest day of the week at my shop, so I'm going in.  I don't want to disappoint any customers who come over. It should be interesting to see how people react to my face. 

This is not comfortable, but it beats the heck out of dying from skin cancer.  I hope others learn from my mistakes and wear sunblock, hats etc.  I always figured they would have a cure for this before I got old, I guess they do in a way if this can be called a cure.  The artificial tanning products on the market now are fabulous.  Fortunately  many wise and health conscious  people are now using those products rather than taking the risk of getting skin cancer from a sun tan.  My days of laying out by the pool or on the beach are over.  I remember how important it was to me to be the darkest one on the beach. Those tans are long faded and forgotten.  Was my tan worth the possibility of not being here for my son's wedding or college graduation?  Hell no, it was just stupid!  Most of the damage was done long before I even had kids, and now they are my number 1 concern in this.  The pain, the ugly..... no problem, bring it on.  The possibility we miss a spot someday and my kids lose me earlier than they should, that is what bothers me the most.