Living with Skin Cancer

I’m writing about my 69-year old dad. His bell’s palsy came upon him suddenly a week ago today. I believe his is caused by a tumor. You see, he was diagnosed with skin cancer (squamous cell) on his bottom lip a few years ago. Not uncommon for a person that age with fair skin. Well, he kept putting off treatment because he didn’t think it was that urgent. He finally did have it removed. After that surgery, he thought it was over and did not do any follow up, until the pain came back. They ended up having to take a v-shaped chunk out of his lip down to his chin. This time they followed up with radiation. Again, they thought they got it all. Several months later, his glands were swollen, hard and painful, and it was getting hard to swallow. To make a long story short, he subsequently had two major surgeries where they removed a portion of his jaw, tongue, etc. He is not able to swallow anything, not even saliva, so he receives all of his nutrition and pain medication through a g-tube inserted into his stomach. It is next to impossible to understand him when he speaks, so he communicates using a white board. His cancer has moved on to his carotid artery, as you can imagine a very difficult area to treat, and his jaw pain is again increasing even after this last major surgery in early March. He’s in a lot of pain all the time. I don’t believe the doctors will be able to stop this now very aggressive cancer. The reason I’m writing these things is to encourage everyone, if you have a new or unusual spot on your skin, do not delay. Have it checked out by your physician immediately AND follow up. As I understand it, if treated early, this type of skin cancer has a very high success rate. Time is not on your side. If my dad had acted earlier with proper follow up, I believe he’d be cancer free today.