Got a Cut On My Forehead Last January

John Rogers · 09-05-2018, 03:53 PM

The first week of the new year I got the flu, even though I had a shot in the previous fall and the first time I have had it in probably 20 years?! After a couple days my temp was up to 102 so I and the misses were worried so I called my doctor who we have used since she opened her practice in 1980. She said take Tylenol for the fever and she's send a script to the local Rite Aide for codeine cough syrup, two refills. I had to go get it since they make you show an ID for that sort of stuff now days. On the way back to bed I got dizzy and stumbled and banged my forehead against the edge of the dresser and got a 1 1/2 inch cut up at my hair line and it bled like crazy. Wife got it stopped and bandaged and all.

Part two, the cut was about healed and the flu was gone when I hit the exact same place while cleaning one of my slug guns after a range trip. It got a tad bigger and bled like crazy again and my nurse got it patched up.

Part three, a month or so later banged it AGAIN, SAME PLACE while cleaning out junk from the garage and it was worse this time and it looked worse too. The overall size had grown and it seemed the Neosporin was not working. The pain was getting to be a real problem so early on a July Thursday I went to the ER and the on duty doc said "why did you keep hitting it"...…...and I did not have a real snappy answer so he said to visit the Sharp Hospital Wound Clinic which for out patients is in Coronado at their little hospital. Took 3 weeks to get in and by that time it was rally painful but the doc over there said it looked cancerous and took 4 skin samples and said to come back in a week. Turned out to be Squamous cell carcinoma.

Part four, the following week he said it was cancerous and had surgery scheduled for the following Tuesday at 7:00 AM so in I go. He cut out a good sized piece of my head and decided to do as he put it :a face lift" so I have 3 or 4 cuts running all around my head and as his nurse said "when the meds wear off it will hurt for about a week" and she was spot on. The following week samples show no further cancer and tomorrow I get the final staples pulled thank goodness. He feels the radiation I received in my 20+ years as a Navy nuclear machinist probably was the thing that caused the change of a small cut into something worse but as he said it is hard to tell? I see an oncologist on Friday to see if further treatments might be necessary?

At least he didn't shave my head!

WPOZZZ · 09-05-2018, 04:03 PM

I hope you come back with a clean bill of health! In the meantime, you'll need to wear one of these to keep you safe.

911boost · 911boost's Garage

There was a really nice guy at the Rainbow Foods near where I lived in MN that wore a hockey helmet to work all the time...

Just kidding.

Glad you are feeling better, that is scary.

sammyg2 · 09-05-2018, 04:33 PM

I had a chunk of my shoulder cut out several years ago because of SCC, as long as they catch it before it becomes invasive it's not that bad cept for the hurt part. They just carve it out.

But if it becomes invasive it can metastasize. On a good/bad scale that's down at the bottom, near the bad section.

widgeon13 · 09-05-2018, 04:37 PM

Good luck but it sounds strange to me.

Never know what causes cancer??

John Rogers · 09-05-2018, 07:16 PM

Not knowing what can cause cancer is very true. It is the same as with the quad heart bypass surgery I had a little over 4 years ago. BP was great, all other blood stuff was spot on even no family history. The surgeon said he figures it was just my turn??!!

Steve Carlton · 09-05-2018, 07:35 PM

Glad to hear you're getting better!

Bill Douglas · 09-05-2018, 07:49 PM

Good you getting it cut out. I get a few chunks cut out too.

So I know what you are talking about; I'll look like a patchwork quilt by the time I'm an old man

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

Good to hear you are finally on the mend.

It's crazy how small injuries can get out of hand. had a friend who sat down on the side of his bed one night. The bed frame broke and the rail came down on the back of his foot. After months of medical care, they amputated his foot - for a scrape on his heal. So, they didn't amputate your head. That's a win! Glad you are getting better.

Evans, Marv · 09-05-2018, 09:31 PM

Glad you are on the mend also. Strange how a repeated injury like that led to that result. If the comment about the radiation long ago is accurate, I'd be careful. Hope it mends completely.

DanielDudley · 09-06-2018, 01:21 AM

Glad you are on the mend. It's OK to stop hitting your head now.

tabs · 09-06-2018, 01:44 AM

No jokes from me.

KFC911 · 09-06-2018, 02:44 AM

Best to you John....serious stuff indeed!

Jeff Higgins · 09-06-2018, 12:46 PM

Yikes, John - you get my fullest and deepest empathy. As a matter or fact, as I sit here typing this, I'm only about two hours out from my own surgery to remove a spot of squamous cell carcinoma from my forehead, just above my right eyebrow. Mine was quite deep, almost into the muscle, and about the diameter of a nickel. I underwent what they call Moh's surgery, wherein they take a bit, check it in the lab to see if the margins are "clean" and, if not, they take a bit more, check it, and so on.

So, um, yeah - "white privilege" my ass (or more like my forehead). Us phenomenally pale white guys, especially us children of the '60's and '70's (before we knew what sunscreen is all about), get this very special gift. So all of you younger pale white guys - don't mess with this schit. Listen to your mothers (and doctors) - sunscreen, hats, and all of that.

aschen · 09-06-2018, 01:34 PM

So it was a coincidence that the same place you kept injuring was cancerous? That seems really crazy. Could it be that the area was extra "fragile" in some way from the cancer which turned otherwise normalish knocks into severe cuts?

Anyways it seems like getting injured was a bit of luck on your part and glad to hear you are recovering.