My journey with cancer

I wanted to go public about my lip cancer to further educate people on the diagnosis, surgery, and prevention of it. The photos you are looking at are not thick bandages, that is my actual lip. Although the swelling has gone down since this photo was taken, the size of the bandage gives you an indication of how large an area was removed from my lip.


I had this tiny little spot on my lip for several years. It wasn’t painful; it was clear and seemed completely harmless; therefore the need to have it examined wasn’t necessary.
Spring came and it was time to head outside and get some fresh air. My clients were thrilled to be heading outdoors to train. The weather was great, the workouts were intense and there was lots of sunshine. The sun felt wonderful; it warmed our skin during training sessions.

Three months later my lip started to bother me, the little spot was getting a little bigger and became very painful. I thought it was a small pimple that would eventually go away.

Another three months passed the small pimple was getting larger and the pain radiated thru my entire lower lip. My lip had patches of dry flaky skin that never went away. I thought my lips had gotten sunburned or chapped from training and running outside. It was time to do something about the peeling lip so I headed to the store to seek out a good chap stick with SPF. I found a wonderful lip balm with SPF 30. That should take care of the flaky skin.

The lip balm was full of coconut oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, vitamin E, beeswax and calendula flowers; all the right ingredients for moisturizing dry lips. It glided across my bumpy flaky lip, softening the dry skin. It helped keep the flaky skin moist but it didn’t prevent the flaky skin from building up. At this point I started to become concerned. It was time to closely examine this scaly, painful sore on my lip. I cleaned it up and started to squeeze it, hoping it would extract something. The pain was so incredible I became dizzy from squeezing it. Nothing came out. No wonder I got so dizzy.

What is this thing? It must be a cyst or an abscess of some kind. I asked my girlfriend who is an esthetician; she recommended I get it checked out. I made an appointment at my general practitioners. He referred me to a dermatologist, who I was scheduled to see the next day. I felt very important for being able to get in so fast! Little did I know that the reason I was referred so quickly is because there was something concerning that needed an expert’s attention.

The dermatologist looked at it and said, it looks like some kind of growth. Growth I thought… what does that mean? They took a biopsy of it and sent me on my way. A few days later I’m flying down the highway heading to the bay area, when my phone rings. I answer it. It’s the dermatologist office calling with the results of my biopsy. I’m thinking it’s a cyst and they’re going to schedule an appointment for me to come in and get it removed. They informed me that I have lip cancer. Okay, I’m flying down the freeway in complete shock thinking should I pull over, do I turn around and go home, do I call someone. I never even suspected cancer. I’m surprised and shocked!

I was referred to an oncologist who specializes in dermatology and reconstructive surgery. I walk in the surgery center and am surprised to see how many other people were there; having cancer removed. There were at least 10 other people in the room. Some patients had bandages on their hands, face, and top of their head, cheek and around their eye. I felt a little out of place given that I was the youngest patient.

I take a seat and get settled in. The nurse calls my name and I head back to the surgical room. My heart is racing but I’m okay. This is a simple procedure everything will be fine, one little cut and I’m all done…so I thought.

I lay down on the reclining chair, feeling like I’m at the dentists’ office. I’m in high spirits and excited to be getting the cancer removed from my lip. In fact, the doctor and his asst are in high spirits too. I’m thinking, when he’s done I get to go home.

They begin to prep my mouth by sanitizing it and injecting local anesthesia on my lip. Every injection stings and I can feel the fluid making its way thru my lip. The scalpel passes over my face; they began working away at my lip. The doctor and the staff were very friendly and explained what they were doing throughout the procedure.

They are done, I’m relieved at how quick and easy that was. Yeah I get to go home. They cauterize the area on my lip where they removed tissue and cover it with a bandage. My lip feels a little swollen. The doctor tells me they’ll be looking at the tissue they removed, making sure they got all the cancer. He said it takes about an hour.

It felt like minutes later and they called me back to tell me the cancer is covering a much larger area of my lip than they expected and in fact my lower lip is covered with pre-cancer cells. OH GOD, suddenly I’ve lost my high spirit, appetite is gone and I’m feeling a little queasy not knowing what that really means. The Dr says they have to continue to remove layers of skin tissue until they remove all of the cancer.

Five procedures and 7 hours later, I’m cancer free. My lip is the size of a large apple slice. I can’t talk because it’s so swollen. I’m exhausted, wishing this day had never come and I swore I would wear sunscreen from head to toe, come rain or shine to avoid going thru this ever again.

I was in tears after seeing what my skinless lip looked like. I didn’t get stitches because I would have to have reconstructive surgery at a later date to fix the unnatural appearance of my lip. I did not get a skin graph because it would look like a patch over my lip. Instead my lip is left open to heal naturally, where new skin cells will reproduce a lip. I thought how on earth is a new layer of skin going to ever grow back. Times have changed… my option today was far better than what they would have done in the past. In retrospect I am only short ¾ of my skin on my lip vs. ¾ of my entire mouth. I’m getting used to seeing the open wound at every bandage change. I’m looking forward to my new lip coming in 6 weeks. It’s exciting rather than depressing.

It’s been four days since my surgery. The swelling has gone down and so has the size of the bandage. They removed the entire strip of skin that normally covers ¾ of my lip. The other ¼ is covered in pre-cancerous cells that will have to be frozen off after my lip heals. Until then, I’ll be wearing a bandage on my lower lip for 6 weeks.

We are all born with cancer cells, as hard as that is to imagine or believe it is the truth. Some of us have a higher chance of getting cancer than others because of genetics. My family has a history of cancer; covering everything from colon, breast, cervical to melanoma. I was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer. It’s most commonly found on the lip and ear and caused by being in the great outdoors. This cancer cell can break off and make its way into your lymphatic system. It’s not something you want to ignore. If you see any changes on your skin or your body isn’t feeling right, don’t question it… have it looked at by your doctor.

I’ve lived a very healthy life, I eat clean, I exercise regularly, I take vitamins and supplements, I get regular check-ups and I got cancer. Don’t underestimate cancer’s curious way into our lives. Family history or not, we are all susceptible to it. I'm at higher risk today than I was yesterday.

I will continue to take care of myself because it’s the best thing I can do for my health and body. Now is the time to get into the practice of taking care of your health and body by eating whole foods, wearing sunscreen and chap stick, exercising, relaxing and getting regular checkups.

Early detection is the key to life. Get into the health of it!


Until next time….