warning to all fellow fishers - Skincancer

[softplasticsdude79]

hi all,

Just a friendly reminder to slip slop slap, whatever you do to beat the sun,Just had a spot taken from my arm that was 2 mm big,doctor took 6cms from my arm and filled with stitches.Report a week later showed "severly dysplastic with a melanucotic centre",this is my second in 5 years,i have also had 5 other spots taken out that were clear.Still is a very big wake up call,Im only 32 years old and have a wife and 3 kids,i think "bulletproof" was the word my mum used to use when id say "shellberightmum" i dont need sunscreen or a hat.:o

i was told both spots were only months off being very dangerous and a risk to my life,his words were "6-12 more months and you would be losing limbs if not your life,",thats a very scary sentence for a 115kg aussie bloke who drinks/smokes and likes to think that not much bothers him.

I have been in the sun since i was born either surfing or fishing,and have only slip slop slapped the last 10 years,appears the damage had been done when i was younger,plus my european background and oily skin doesnt help.

im now on 3 monthly checks the rest of my life,or until the skin cancer doc changes it.

My poor kids get hammered by me now,everytime they go out in the sun,they think im tough and hard,little do they know the effects that can come later on.

wish id listened to my mum

Certainly makes you think.

anyways,im the lucky one who had them checked and removed,and i encourage all fishos to get there skin checked,it is free in Qld and will only take 30mins max,i go to Doctor Cameron at Caboolture skin cancer clinic,nice bloke,but tells you how it is,He wont cop excuses.But im sure theres many other clinics in Qld that are the same and dont charge,i sleep much better at night now,knowing im clear,and if he finds another dangerous spot,i know it cant develop properly within 3 months to cause too much damage.

sorry to post a negative thread,but thought it was worth mentioning.

regards
Adam

[moondancer]

Well done Adam...dont apologise for posting what you called a 'negative thread'! As I read it I started to think that I should get a skin check (never had one, cos I think/ thought my olive skin would make me bullet proof!) ...its something that we all confront and not always do something to take care of. Skin cancer is one of those weird things that we dont often regard as serious as other 'big C's" but can be just as dangerous. And of course, the very nature of our sport means we're always in the danger zone. So, well done mate for the strong reminder, and glad to hear and see that you're doing the right thing by yourself and family..and without any major dramas! Cheers, Lawry

[Funchy]

Thanks for the timely reminder mate, like you I am always on my kids back about hats. You gotta stay on them.

P.S Glad to hear you got a positive prognosis mate

[Linedropper]

I had a guy from my year at school die of skin cancer at 27. That was a wake up for me. Slip slop slap guys.

[gruntahunta]

Hey Adam...bet ur kids would like to see u quit smoking as well.... same risk mate, prob worse now cause u are aware of your skin and skin CANCER....LUNG CANCER is the quiet killer, eats u up from the inside without u knowing it.

[Funchy]

I was a smoker from about 15 to 40yrs. Best thing I eva did was throw the durries away.

[softplasticsdude79]

Hey Adam...bet ur kids would like to see u quit smoking as well.... same risk mate, prob worse now cause u are aware of your skin and skin CANCER....LUNG CANCER is the quiet killer, eats u up from the inside without u knowing it.


yeah,spot on gruntahunter,just cant find the willpower,always find a excuse, work-stress-bills-,i will soon,when the right day comes,Doctor also said they contribute to helping skin cancers grow,and i just buried my 55 year old neighbour Pete,due to lung cancer,so its on my mind.

I guess one thinks hes tough,but he cant stop smoking.Not real tough at all.Plays on my mind all day everyday.and funchy,how did you quit,cold turkey or another method ?

I need to stop,My Cpap runs overtime around 25psi all night and i know ts the smoking/drinking thats doing it.
Horrible addiction !!!!!!!

Adam

[bf90]

Adam, I too used to smoke from 17 till is was 39, on a good day I could polish off 3 packs of longbeach mild in 40's....yeah man up to 120 a day every day, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do but it was totally worth it. I managed to give up using the nicotine gum, it worked for me but hell I sure did over dose on that gum a few times when I first started using it!!! been 6 years since I quit the durries, and I admit I still get the urge to have one some times but I will never give in to them again. if I can stop smoking mate, anyone can. :)Cheers, Brad.

[FISHAWN]

Thanks for sharing your experience Adam.
I Just had my second skin scan last week and strongly recommend everyone goes for a check, costs nothing takes no time.
As for smoking, I'm nearly 1 month now without it and going well. I Did spend a couple of months prior cutting back, I removed 1 smoke from my routine at a time and soon realised you can get by without it and you feel much better.

[Funchy]

Adam the thing for me was I reallllly WANTED to give up, not just thought I should. I had tried heaps of times cos I thought I should cos of money, health missus and all that. Now I am not criticising but I always had those fall back excuses of stress and bills etc mate, but the day I realised I just didnt wanna friggin smoke anymore was the day I only focussed on HOW I was gonna give up. Never had a second thought of why I should keep smoking. Then I grabbed some patches and 3 days later did a trip to Melbourne and left them behind. Now here is how fugged up smoking is, I said fuggit, I'm not buying more patches when there are someback in Brissy! Woulda walked over a hundred miles of broken glass back in the day for some durries but wouldnt cough up for patches! Had a good think about that a little later. Anyway., I made a promise to my little girl that I would give up and whenever I felt I "had" to have one I made myself to take note of the time and wait 10mins before having one. At that point i would have forgotten I wanted one or could manage the craving. Now its been 3 yrs nearly and I still have moments of geez I could go a smoke but but mostly I shake my head at messed up suckin that sh!t into ya lungs is!!!! Anyway mate, good luck

[Gon Fishun]

yeah,spot on gruntahunter,just cant find the willpower,always find a excuse, work-stress-bills-,i will soon,when the right day comes,Doctor also said they contribute to helping skin cancers grow,and i just buried my 55 year old neighbour Pete,due to lung cancer,so its on my mind.

I guess one thinks hes tough,but he cant stop smoking.Not real tough at all.Plays on my mind all day everyday.and funchy,how did you quit,cold turkey or another method ?

I need to stop,My Cpap runs overtime around 25psi all night and i know ts the smoking/drinking thats doing it.
Horrible addiction !!!!!!!

Adam

You will give em up Adam. You know you will.
I smoked and rolled my own for 45 years and knew the only way I could give them away was to convince myself, which took 3 years of telling myself I don't want to smoke. One day on the way home from work I stopped at the chemist, got the big patches and the rest is history.
I think the 3 years of psyching myself up helped enormously as I was in a high stress job at the time. The hardest part was getting rid of the habits that come with smoking, not the actual smoking.
Good luck.

[TREVELLY]

Smoked from 18 till 24 - so haven't smoked for nearly three decades - I went cold turkey - my motivation was health - started to wheese when exercising and thought of the lungs. Sister gave up smoking as she was wanting to live long enough to see her kids grow up - well I have a 7yo son and every reason to see him grow up - it's worth it just for that alone not to mention cost, antisocial, inconvenience - when I gave up I used to resist the urge whilst working at a factory by smelling the ashtray and imagining this as my lungs.

Skin cancer - I get annual scans and last visit had one cut off back of hand - heck I did not see it or have a clue it was there; the clinic at Strathpine sorted it - bulk billed, so yes I think it is free everywhere.

Love the great outdoors and dress to suit these days - especially on the water - fully covered and cream on the exposed part of face.

Hope for you and your family's sake you can quit the smokes Adam - it is a great feeling to be free of that addiction - I quit when they went to $2 a packet - just a tad more now aren't they?

[BillyT2382]

Heya guys i too am still smoking and one of those ppl that say "yep i will...soon" Well soon is still coming for me, just listening to all you guys thats been there...makes me think "I really need to give up!!"
Not only for my health but everyone around me, and yes i really do want to give up, but i don't know how to say "NO!"
It just pisses me off when i try to give up something makes me go back to it...as like other guys here thats tried sooo many times before...until now, to those guys well done and your a great inspiration..i will definately give it another try..this time maybe a little help from friends is what we really need..

And adam well done mate for bringing this post to light mate even myself will go get a check thanks mate.

Cheers
Billy

[Floating Rib]

Good post Adam, having a family riddled with melanoma and had my lip cut off and rebuilt with sundamage and a Melanoma recently covering up bigtime is the only way i go fishing these days, everyone says i look like a Terrorist with my Buff covering my face and the gloves arent real fashionable but it beats being dead. a youth of running around with no hats and sunscreen and pale skin, i cringe when i see guys fishing in open boats with singlets and no hats. We still as a nation cling to the healthy tanned look myth.

[tunaticer]

One of my fishing mates lost his 22yo son to skin cancer about 2 yrs ago now. He had a small melanoma removed two yrs previous and went back every month for a checkup. Three months before his death the dr shifted him out to 3 month visits for checkups. 9 weeks later he felt odd and went to the GP who said he had a bit of flu and treated him for that, 2 weeks later he got sicker and went to the local hospital. The hospital rang the mate up and said come up and say goodbye, two days later he took his last breath. Externally there was no sign of the skin cancer, it was around his heart by that stage.

Get your checkups guys, no matter how small the spot is, it is what it is the pimple on top of that is the real worry.

[PADDLES]

my old man died from melanoma and his symptoms and the speed of his demise were alarmingly similar to what tunaticer has described but a smidge slower as it was all around my old man's liver/kidneys/lungs and not his heart. 4 weeks from diagnosis to stopping breathing, enough time to get stuff in order for mum and say goodbye to his mates so still better than a car accident but shocking nonetheless so cover up or possibly pay the price, good reminder to us all adam so thanx, although the way beachmere is at the moment we are in more danger of drowning than skin cancer.

[gr hilly]

my mrs and myself smoke but she gave up 7mths ago the doctor put her on champax it worked after 2 months she stoped but finished the 3 month course i could not go on this drug for medical reasons i walk outside around my paddock to have a fag i hate the bassttaarrdd things but keep saying ill stop 45yrs of smoking don;t do you no good i will buy some of this gum and give it a go i did try patches infact i stuck one on each cheek of my backside on my last trip to rockhampton and smoked 30 fags on the way to, maybe i should be chewing aswell.
cheers,Hilly

[Gon Fishun]

my mrs and myself smoke but she gave up 7mths ago the doctor put her on champax it worked after 2 months she stoped but finished the 3 month course i could not go on this drug for medical reasons i walk outside around my paddock to have a fag i hate the bassttaarrdd things but keep saying ill stop 45yrs of smoking don;t do you no good i will buy some of this gum and give it a go i did try patches infact i stuck one on each cheek of my backside on my last trip to rockhampton and smoked 30 fags on the way to, maybe i should be chewing aswell.
cheers,Hilly

Mate, if you hate them so much you have to tell yourself you really want to stop smoking, and keep telling yourself. Unfortunately only you can do it. Nobody else can do it for you.
I feel for the smokers who would like to quite. I still like the smell from smokes, but would never entertain the idea of going back to them.

[Micadogs]

Hi Adam

Great post. I also have 6 monthly check ups for skin cancer. Had about 8 removed thus far, none of the melanoma thankfully. I am in teh high risk group though, bad sun attitude when I was young and living in the tropics.

I have also given up smoking recently, it has been just over a year now. I promised my wife that if she got pregnant that I would give up smoking. I am an older first time dad at 38, and wanted a long healthy life to see my kids grow up. Your motivation will be all around you!!!! FYI - I used Champix to give up. Surprisingly easy!! I have tried in the past with patches, cold turkey and the other drug (the name of which escapaes me). Champix really was easy!! I only experienced 1 day of "pain".

Good luck mate, it can be done!!!! See the other success stories on here also.

Thank you for sharing your experienece with sun cancer also. It really pays to have the checks. Like others on this post, I have also experieneced loss through melanoma.

Regards Adam

[pescados]

I was a smoker from about 15 to 40yrs. Best thing I eva did was throw the durries away.
same here , chucked it in 2006, about 53 years to late.
Now can't stand the smell of the things.

[Y-Not]

Chin up Adam! I was in your position 15 years ago, I had 3 melanomas cut out and then went onto 3 monthly checks for about 5 years and regular blood tests in case they missed seeing something.

I am now 46 and had no more cancers cut out in those 15 years. Now on 6 monthly checks and the Dr freezes or cuts anything he sees. I do not care if I score a few unnecessary scars, I would rather that and be around to hassle my kids, chase the wife around and get a feed occasionally.

All in all better to get em cut or burnt when they are small even if not cancerous just to be still here!!!

Trev

[gruntahunta]

Adam, I gave up the fags cold turkey after about 20 odd years smoking shitloads when my 2 boys started to put No Smoking stickers on our glass sliding doors.....OMG they were onll about 8 and 10 but their message hit home to me...never had one since.

I have also had a melanoma cut out as well as dozens of BCC's and a few SCC'c which are a bit worse.....prob caused by the sun but assisted by the smoking mate.

Mate, I know it is hard but it really only takes about 3 days for the hurt to pass...the addiction stays forever, I still like the smell of others smoking and still get the urge....been about 14 years without one now tho.

[snodger77]

Adam , I have also just had a cancer cut out I have shitty White skin and having a job in the sun all day I guess it was inevitable . One day I was workin away and noticed a black thing on my arm so booked an apointment at the docs for that arvo . I found out that the black dot was just a blood blister but he then pointed out to me that what I had thought was just dry skin on the backs of my hands were actualy cancer ! He burned off six and and had to cut one out . Just shows that you need check ups, if it wasn't for that blood blister who knows when I would have gotten around to getting one.


On the smoking side I gave up 4 years ago I smoked from around 12 till I was 30 and ended up with a pack of thirties per day habit.
Now I loved smoking I really did , I especially loved one with a coffee in the morning I didn't want to give up but knew I had to for the sake of my children and wife( who hassled the crap out of me for years) so this is how I went about it and it workedfor me .firstly I made a bet with a mate of mine for a some money . I then worked out that my habit cost about $120 per week and said to the misses I'll give the fags away but $80 dollars per week was to go into my personal account for me to do what I like with. The next thing I did was bought patches , I didn't use as directed I would only put one one when I couldnt handle the cravings any longer . Knowing that by the time it worked I had forgotten about wanting a smoke . This made my parches last twice as long .
The money that went into my account added up over two years bought my 4.8 mtr centre console boat!! And last year paid for our holiday . Still have the money going into my acc now but most gets spent on tackle / upgrades and fuel for fishing .
Giving up smoking was one of the best things I have achieved ( wife and kids aside.) hope this helps.
Marcus

[gr hilly]

got myself some stop smoking gum today this thread has realy got me determined to quit ill keep you posted fellas how i go start tomorro.
cheers,Hilly

[Gon Fishun]

got myself some stop smoking gum today this thread has realy got me determined to quit ill keep you posted fellas how i go start tomorro.
cheers,Hilly

Good on ya. Hilly. and good luck. Don't forget to change or alter habits.

[Floating Rib]

Hi all, further to this discussion i just bought myself a new Columbia fishing/paddlers hat, ive had a melanoma and its in the family so i cover up pretty well, this hat covers the face very well and is light and pretty cool. I bought several which im happy to sell to Ausfish members for what they cost me(price + post from the states) have listed in the 'other' classifieds on here if interested.
Cheers
FR

[sleepygreg]

Got my yearly check up on Friday. Not looking forward to it.....i know im going to walk out with numerous 'frozen blisters'....epecially the one on my nose. No doubt going to get a rev up about my liver count too lol.

[Funchy]

got myself some stop smoking gum today this thread has realy got me determined to quit ill keep you posted fellas how i go start tomorro.
cheers,Hilly

So Hilly, how did it go? Really hope you can kick it mate.8-);D

[Lucky Loz]

The silence is deafening.

[lethal]

i spent 23 hours in the boat just before i went into melanoma scan at brookside and was very paranoid about going in sunburnt. went in without any sunburn and got 3 sunspots burnt off for the second time, the doc said that ALL BOATIES ARE At HIGH RISK, yearly check ups are the go. if you have a medicare card it is free. worth the 5 minutes out of your day for peace of mind.

[TheRealAndy]

Here is a tip, sunscreen will not prevent melanoma. Just because you are not getting sunburnt, does not mean your skin is not being exposed to UV rays. In fact, sunscreen lulls us into a false sense of security because we are not getting sunburn.

The only way to prevent skin cancer is lack of exposure.

When I am out on the water fishing, I wear long pants, long sleeve shirt, one of those hats that covers your face and sunnies. Cover up folks, best thing you can do.

[pipifin]

The last time this thread was active, I got all paranoid reading it and thought... "I should really go get that mole checked".... but how often do we go to the doc for only one thing? Anyway a couple of weeks ago I was having problems with my hand (old injury, probably rsi from my teenage years) and said to the doc "also, how about this mole?" he had one look and said it's a bcc, not malignant but because of it's position (right between my eye and my nose) and it's rapid growth you are off to a plastic surgeon" the concern is that it will keep growing and roots may damage my eye etc and cause all sorts of problems later. So 22 March, in for day surgery, cut it out (as well as plenty around it) cut across my nose, loads of stitches and even more discomfort, but small price to pay (the $1500 not so small a price to pay, but as they say "when it's your health"). Anyway, I know it's not life threatening (unless I get a crap anaesthetist) and not too big of a deal, but if I hadn't have been spurred into doing something by reading this thread, then I might have been even more one eyed in a few years.