New item of Equipment

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2QuarterPints
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:55 pm
Location: Paphos 6 Months / Yorkshire 6 Months

New item of Equipment

Post by 2QuarterPints »

My list of come-in-handy equipment continues to grow and a small pot of Magnesium Sulfate paste is the latest addition. I was always taught that the correct spelling is Sulphate but who am I to argue with Boots the Chemist.

For about a month before we came home from Cyprus a few weeks ago, I have had a small but painful lump on my arm, and I finally cracked (Okay got nagged into it) and made an appointment to see the GP. Doctor Google had already told me that it could be skin cancer, something I already have an acquaintenship with, so I just needed it confirming by a real live practitioner, treatment arranged etc. I duly presented my arm and it was closely examined with a jeweller's loupe, then again with addition of a powerful torch. "It's a deep splinter" he said "and you need to get some old fashioned Drawing Ointment from the Chemist, or you could just use some toothpaste as long as it is the plain white variety". As we are dog-sitting, I opted for the ointment otherwise the minty smell of toothpaste would probably drive the dog nuts and it would lick my arm raw. Mind you that might be the secret as the licking would eventually draw the splinter out.

So, here I have been for the last 3 weeks, pining to be back to geocaching in Cyprus, and the whole time I have been carrying a souvenir thorn around in my arm! On the plus side it is not skin cancer and, as a double whammy, when the pot is empty it will be an ideal cache container. As I seem to get lacerated by thorns every time we go looking for caches, I suspect it will not take long for the pot to empty...
2QuarterPints
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:55 pm
Location: Paphos 6 Months / Yorkshire 6 Months

Skin Cancer - My "New item of Equipment"

Post by 2QuarterPints »

As a follow-up to my earlier post, I was right and the lump on my arm was a form of skin cancer after all - Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Having followed my GP's advice about getting the splinter out of my arm, nothing happened other than the lump started to look more than a little alarming. The best way to describe it is that it looked like a little volcano. It had a diameter of about 1/2" and was about 1/4" high. GP's can't be expected to know everything, the name says it all "General" Practitioners, so I decided to see a Dermatologist privately, as a return to Cyprus and other travel plans are looming so time is not on my side to wait for an NHS appointment, and I now have a nice new scar about 3" long on my arm! The Dermatologist explained that, until fairly recently, Squamous Cell Carcinoma was regarded as very low level skin cancer, but attitudes are now shifting and it is no longer regarded as such, and it has moved up the nastiness scale. Fortunately, the subsequent histology showed that he had got it all.

Just goes to show that you can't be too careful.
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