[This blog was originally going to be posted at this website on it's forums: http://www.topicalinfo.org/index.htm
Due to it's length, I've started a blog. Hopefully this can help somebody]
Briefly let me tell you a bit about myself: I'm fair-skinned, freckled, and a redhead with blue eyes, 42. I spent several years of my childhood in Florida at the beach, used to "tan" as a teenager, used tanning beds (I cannot believe this now), have spent a lot of time in the sun in South America, and both parents have had skin cancer (mild cases, removed by Moh's or burned). All in all I'm a poster child for skin cancer. I'm also very health conscious and knowledgeable in holistic practices/therapies.
Recently I was diagnosed with having a BCC on my face-in the middle of my chin, the size of a normal pimple. I am very cynical of allopathic doctors. I knew (99% sure) that this thing on my chin was skin cancer. I waited a long time to get this checked (maybe 3 years-how could I?). At my first visit to the dermatologist 3 weeks ago (July 10, '07) I showed him many spots I was concerned about. He was concerned with a raised lump about 3cm on my back. I've had that for as long as I could remember. It was reddish, contained (round, even border), never grew any bigger, sort of pearly, sort of firm, never was flaky, never irritated. He scooped it out at the biopsy. It came back "fine"; it didn't need further treatment. Back to my chin spot.
He thought nothing of it and didn't want to biopsy it. I was adamant. Wouldn't you know it was the best this thing has ever looked. It's history: for a long time I thought it was a pimple. It's persistence had me doing research. It fit perfectly into the descriptions for skin cancer: red, irritated looking, somewhat uneven borders, would flare (frequently with my menses), was flaky, would sometimes bleed, had a conical shape that when was in one of it's "good" phases would produce a crust that would flake off with a sort of plug shape. And yes, I was right. It was diagnosed as Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC).
[His instructions of post biopsy: keep it covered with Bacitrin and a bandaid for five days. We had a debate about healing and scar prevention. I was of the school of thought that keeping a wound clean and as much in the open air, uncovered, as possible, maybe using a dilute wash of tea tree oil in salt water. However I followed his advice to a certain extent-for 3 days, then started using the wash with a bit of Bacitrin and coconut oil leaving it uncovered. I'm very much up in the air on this one. Need more research. But the site looked great and didn't even really register in the pics I took.]
At the first visit, prior to the diagnosis, I had brought up Moh's surgery and asked him what he thought of it. My mother was very unhappy with her experience. She thought it was overly invasive, extremely unpleasant, drawn out, and unecessary. Mind you, these were her thoughts as a layperson. Well the doc said there were no Moh's surgeons in her area (Las Vegas). I was incensed! Could this be a doctor taking advantage of my elderly mother? My doc didn't seem too excited about Moh's.
After my diagnosis my doc recommended two specialists who were Moh's surgeons. Huh?
I didn't understand why he was now recommending this. He was very matter of fact and kept repeating that this was a super mild case, there'd be minimal scarring (I don't really care too much about that-just want it gone), and I shouldn't worry. I told him I was not worried but wanted to take care of this. In my typical fashion I went off the deep end researching like mad. Mostly I wanted to educate myself to understand the mechanics of cancer so that I could then apply what I thought best to treat it. Also since I'm considered "young" in the skin cancer world I wanted to be as knowledgeable as I could be in that I could very well be finding more of these down the line.
SO, I armed myself to the teeth: orange oil, orange cleaner, CoQ10, pancreatin, and placed an order for Cymiliium.
I was all gung ho. I had tested some orange cleaner on my leg on healthy skin. No reaction. I thought I'd use the orange oil as it was more concentrated, my spot was small, and it was organic.
I also decided to treat what I thought could be precancerous areas (that the doc dismissed)-raised whitish, scaly, flattish bumps that sometimes itched deeply when my immune system was down (on shoulder) and the area on my back that was considered to not need any more treatment. Better safe than sorry, right? Also since I kept reading here that healthy tissue would not be damaged/respond I was in the clear. I also decided to do a test patch on my forearm.
For clarity's sake:
Chin: diagnosed BCC-my primary area of concern
Back: biopsied as needing no more treatment
Sides of face: small (1/16 in. diameter, not visible to eye but can feel with finger) scaly patches that don't go away, doc not concerned
Shoulder: raised, flattish, white bump, approx. 1/8 inch x 1/4", doc not concerned
Side leg: normal colored, raised, somewhat rough, 1/4" diameter, doc not concerned
Forearm: control area for testing
ORANGE OIL: WARNING
The orange oil sort of tingled on my chin (I think I was really trying to feel it-I have a high tolerance for pain and was having a hard time discerning if I was imaging the tingle). I then soaked several Q-tips and taped them on various sites. I felt some slight burning at the various areas. Soon my forearm was on fire. I took everything off after about 30-40 mins. My forearm was quite red and irritated (the control, non cancerous area) as were the other white scaly areas including areas of healthy skin around them. Oddly enough my chin and back had the least reaction. I kind of panicked thinking "My God, are there cancerous areas underneath all these places!" The next day I dismissed this as the shape of the inflamed areas were EXACTLY the shapes of either the Q-tips used or the cotton balls. I stopped using anything.
Now I had two obvious marks on either side of my face that looked much like burns from a curling iron-ugly, glaring. People were asking me what had happened. Not good. : ( I was kind of pissed at myself knowing that essential oils really aren't used by themselves-one would usually use a carrier oil-such as olive, coconut.
Now my emphasis switched to trying to heal my test spots! Phooey! I cut aloe from my plants, smoothed it on, added coconut oil, topped with a nonpetroleum jelly (castor oil, beeswax, vit. E). The areas were red, inflammed. Strangely two freckles (NOT moles, not raised, same appearance as the freckles all over my body) near the scaly areas turned very, dark brown (boo). Next (days 2,3) the areas turned a medium brown, more scablike in appearance. Now a week later most of the scabbing has fallen off-the last to go is the original scaly areas. The freckles are gone. The skin is looking pretty good. I'm really babying it and think there will be no scarring or redness in at most a week. Interestingly enough the area on my shoulder including the healthy skin peeled off but I could see the white of the scaly area and maybe a tad of that area dried/lifted. I sort of pulled off a bit, there was tiny dot of blood and I put Cymilium and colloidal silver on it to see what kind of reaction it would have. I will now contain my treatment areas very specifically to what I think are the needed areas-sparing healthy skin.
I had read several things about colloidal silver and had some anyway so I'm throwing that into the mix.
A note about Cymilium. This took 12 days to arrive. Wasn't too stoked on that as the shipping cost was about 1/2 of the total cost of product. I've received computers faster than this... Started with the Cymilium last night. Didn't feel anything, didn't really see a reaction (on chin) so added aloe, colloidal silver, and orange oil. Not really any stinging or anything. This really makes me wonder if there's not really any cancer left here. It is red but I don't think the red would be gone yet from regular healing along with the agitation I've been giving it. It is not blistering. No pus. Not even scaly. No pain. I really don't know what to think here. I'm going to continue with the various treatments: Cymilium, aloe, coconut oil, orange oil, colloidal silver, pancreatin. I've just made a batch of eggplant/apple cider vinegar. We'll see what happens. I do have an appointment for Moh's in the beginning of Oct. I highly doubt I will be going to it. I may make an appt. with a naturapath.
Why I'm against Moh's: I don't think I need it, invasive, other people's experiences, $$$ 1500+more for consultation/post visits, think doc's are cut happy.
I'll keep you posted.
