What Lies Beneath: SURPRISE!

Long before the film TITANIC left viewers sobbing, we had all been schooled to know that what you see isn’t necessarily what you get. Quicksand, Rodents Of Unusual Size, Tremor worms and more may lurk below a seemingly benign landscape. But, except for a rogue iceberg, most of those fears were unfounded.

Recently, my husband discovered that human bodies may harbor unseen villains such as cells that have turned bad, as bad as they can be—cancer. He had served many years in a job that required being exposed to all sorts of weather. Annually for three or four years of his retirement…or maybe more he couldn’t remember, he dutifully reported to the nearest dermatologist to have his skin checked for damage. Each time the attending doctor chemically froze threatening spots of pre-cancer and sent him home. Once he had contaminated skin removed from the top of an ear in cautious repeated slicing called Mohs surgery. The effect was a complete success. Spots of skin cancer are so common in the general population that Mohs surgery coming to the rescue makes an easy conversation starter. My husband shrugged and resumed his life.

This year, my husband pointed out a particular spot on his nose to the visiting doctor because it had kept reappearing after treatment. Any threat had evaded detection for years. She scheduled Mohs surgery for basal-cell carcinoma of the skin, and we scheduled a long day. The surgical Mohs protocol requires numbing, then excision of a tiny bit of a suspicious area. Then the bit is taken to be tested. If cancer is still present, the procedure is repeated, taking slightly more flesh. And repeat again and again, as necessary. Our doctor said the largest number of repetitions he had ever needed for a single patient was twelve—twelve little surgeries, one after the other with a wait in between each for the testing.  My husband tried to appear stoic. Not twelve, surely! His final total was seven–over five hours of surgeries plus 19 picks for numbing. At the end, the surgical hole was large enough that my husband appeared to have a third nostril. The doctor performed a little magic in which he took a flap of nearby cheek tissue to close the hole. The consensus was relief that the hole didn’t need to be even larger. Cancer surgeries can be disfiguring, especially when the cancer has been underestimated over time.

What did I learn from the experience? To begin, doctors can misjudge what something looks like as easily as anyone else. We can all be fooled, especially when we’re in a hurry. Pretty landscapes, seductive profits, or cunning words can seduce us into believing we’re making a good choice. But when we don’t understand or perceive what’s happening beneath the surface or why, we can accidentally damage ourselves and our best interests in the service of forces we didn’t comprehend. Skin cancer may be the least of our foes when we seek to ensure survival. We’ll eventually be able to seal the wounds we’ve wrought upon our lives and environment with resources we didn’t want to spend, as my husband has sacrificed part of his cheek. But seal them we will. We haven’t forgotten our integrity. We’ll look a little different, a little scarred and weary, but we may be stronger and cleaner underneath.

*Image is not cancer but the Creature from the Black Lagoon.