Annual Sermon

[ancient-one]

To a few it will be greeted with indifference, but to me and several others on this Forum who have suffered painful and disfiguring surgeries, protection from the sun is a very serious subject. In my case, sunscreen was a basically unknown thing as I grew up. I worked on the flight line, mowed the yard and fished in a T Shirt and ball cap, no protection whatever. My first use of it was probably in my fifties after my first skin cancer. I use it now but the damage has been done. If I am driving for any distance and the sun is coming in, I cover my left arm to prevent further damage.

My left arm and the left side of my face show the effects of years of sun coming in the car window. You would not want the skin on my left arm, mostly scars. I have no idea how many skin cancers that I have had removed but I definitely remember the two melanomas on my arm, losing part of my lower lip and having my nose split full length. The top of my head looks like pictures of the surface of the moon, craters where cancers were removed and skin grafts done. I had never heard of Spindle Cell cancer but I had two of them on my head. My right arm and right side of my face have had problems but much less. Oddly enough my first skin cancer was on the right cheek and I have a big sunken place to prove it.

If you watch any of the Pro fishing shows you should have noticed that many of the people are now wearing clothes and even masks to protect from the sun. It is not sissy or stupid to protect yourself from skin cancer. If you don't, you will probably be on a three months schedule(with some extras thrown in) with the Dermatologist as I am. Think about it and also remember the damage starts with too much sun when you are very young.
Take care of them too.

End of sermon, you can now pass the collection plate.

[crazyphil]

Back in my younger days, high school and college, I used to work on
the railroad in the summer time. Usually shirtless, enjoying the sun.
No skin protection in those days. Just like smoking, we never knew
the danger. Fortunately I have made it to 85 with just one little cancer
on my left ear. Just lucky, so far, I guess.

[Peak53]

I appreciate the sermon and second the motion. My experience has not been as severe as yours, but the potential is there. I've had two significant surgeries and am on a six month schedule to have stuff burned off before it becomes a problem. I'm a few months behind schedule due to pandemic concerns, which is concerning. I had a good friend die of melanoma he probably got from a few shirtless years in south east Asia. I worked many years at high altitude in nothing more than cut off jeans and work boots. Well usually a ball cap. The cap wasn't enough. I haven't taken a shirt off in the sun in decades and don't go outside without a hat, ever. Going out in a t-shirt feels like tempting the devil. It's a real thing, so please do take care.

[rwsmith]

It's seems that the combination of UVa, b and c is different from it was in the 50s and 60s when I grew up and consists of more burning rays. Too much sun has never been good for skin, but it seems worse today.

[Bugkiller99]

Originally Posted by ancient-one

End of sermon,

Now, let the Forum say

AMEN.

Thank you Graydon, we all need reminding.

[robvious]

I was born a freckle faced redhead a long time ago... I now have grey hair and a white beard... driving convertibles and riding bikes... my skin spent many years going from snow white to red... and even thou I had a large chunk of my scalp removed because of skin cancer in January... I went out to do the cemetery duties with the wife yesterday...cloudy then sunny... not only did I forget sun screen I forgot a hat as well... yup, sunburn... I will not make the same mistake again... the cancer surgery hurt too much to "volunteer" for it again... please don't be a volunteer for cancer...

[hsguy]

Thanks Graydon! We all need a reminder occasionally. I have undergone 3 surgeries and topical chemotherapy for skin cancer recently. No sunscreen when I was younger so paying the price later in my life. Hats and sunscreen are now my best friends.

[swsig]

Originally Posted by Bugkiller99

Now, let the Forum say

AMEN.

Thank you Graydon, we all need reminding.

I will second Bugkiller99's AMEN. Although I've never been a sun worshiper, I've lived in the sunbelt all of my life with skin that should belong to someone who lives underground above the Arctic Circle. Just from the ambient sunlight, I've needed to have around 400 pre-cancers and cancers cut from or frozen off my skin over the last 45 years. I've had four dermatologists retire on me!

If you're not seeing a dermatologist, have your primary care doc at least do a screening. The sooner you address the problem, the less likely you will end up like those of us who have already posted.

[old bear]

Graydon, Thank You for the timely reminder.

[DeathGrip]

Sometimes a picture tells the story.

I keep a fishing hat in my truck these days.

[soFlaNative]

Could not bring myself to give DG a like but appreciate his gumption to post maybe the most unflattering image I've seen here.

[Sistema1927]

Why didn't you post this on Thursday past?

I did a grave site funeral on Friday. The entire service had to take place outside, instead of the normal funeral home and short internment due to COVID-19 precautions. I normally wear a hat outdoors, but you can't do that while praying and preaching. Additionally the cemetery was at 6,000 ft. elevation, and no shade. I was wearing a jacket and long sleeve shirt, so no problems there, but my forehead and nose required some aloe.

I should have known better, but we have all been indoors so much lately that sunscreen has not been on my radar.

[ancient-one]

Originally Posted by DeathGrip

Sometimes a picture tells the story.

I keep a fishing hat in my truck these days.

Except that your better looking and have a cap on, I had a picture that is very close to yours. Mine started as a little spot on the forehead but the surgery went to my temple and took a ninety and went to the corner of my eye. It may be on my old computer still. I will look.

[Golddollar]

I am a little darker than a lot of people but it doesn't give me total immunity from excessive sun exposure. I can remember being out swimming with my brother and ex-sister in law in some lake or river around their home outside Cincinnati. We were swimming from a boat, no cover, no shirt and I got fried.

When I'm outside in the sun now I wear an Indiana Jones fedora that looks like Kurusu's avatar. Two reasons:1) Up in Quebec province I can remember some of my relatives wearing ball caps but getting their ears sunburned and 2) realizing that I had enough all over thinning of my hair to allow my scalp to get sunburned.

When the first Indiana Jones movie came out, Stetson issued a licensed Indiana Jones fedora, complete with a pin made like the movie logo and an image of Indiana Jones on the inside of the crown. I thought it looked pretty snazzy so I bought one. Still have it after all these decades and now I wear it on my walks in the neighborhood.

[pmanton]

Amen !!

A few years back I lost a huge chunk of my left cheek to include my left lower eyelid. My left eye was sewn shut for over 2 months while I grew a new eyelid.

Plastic surgery did wonders, but my replacement eyelid isn't nearly as good as the one Mother Nature gave me.

[Skeet 028]

I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay..on the water from the age of 8. Blonde hair blue eyed WHITE boy..skin so light I burned badly. I remember seeing the old watermen... almost all had skin cancer on their head arms shoulders etc. I wore clothes covering almost everything...and a big ol Stetson cowboy hat when out on the water. I had relatives all over the Eastern Shore of Md and Virginia who were watermen and almost all had skin problems. Pay attention to the sermon above

[Golddollar]

Originally Posted by Skeet 028

I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay..on the water from the age of 8. Blonde hair blue eyed WHITE boy..skin so light I burned badly. I remember seeing the old watermen... almost all had skin cancer on their head arms shoulders etc. I wore clothes covering almost everything...and a big ol Stetson cowboy hat when out on the water. I had relatives all over the Eastern Shore of Md and Virginia who were watermen and almost all had skin problems. Pay attention to the sermon above

Your story seems to confirm what happened to me. Being on the water seems to enhance the danger because of the reflection off the water.

[Skeet 028]

Originally Posted by Golddollar

Your story seems to confirm what happened to me. Being on the water seems to enhance the danger because of the reflection off the water.

I think that is true. Even with the hat I would get my nose burned from time to time...probably from said reflections.

[ancient-one]

I was a person that loved to bass fish. A lot of people think early morning and late evening is the only time that they bite. Granted it is a more pleasant time to fish but bass will bite anytime if you can locate them.
In the early seventies we had a mobile home in the Longtown area of Lake Eufaula OK. Not far from where I beached my boat was a good bass area. Back at that time electronics were not much more than a depth finder.
I was fishing my favorite spot when the wind blew me over a spot that no one fished, it just didn't look like a good spot. I was bringing my purple with a yellow tail Creme worm in when a five pounder grabbed it. I started catching bass and at the same time I discovered that the small area was one big stump bed.
I told no one and when fishing and a boat came by I would quit fishing until it was gone. I have no idea how many bass that I caught and released in that one area.
All of the above was to tell what an idiot I was. Most of my fishing there was done between 11AM and 2PM, right in the heat if the day. The really stupid part was that I usually had on a Tshirt and a ball cap and no kind of sun protection. That was probably the basis for a lot of my skin cancers. I had my first one about that time. Be smarter than me.

[Squarebutt]

When I wasn't playing baseball as a kid I was helping an old farmer couple bring in their hay, loose, from the fields. In high school I worked summers with a hot-tar roofing crew, and I've worked outside for decades ever since. My wife put her foot down a few years ago and sent me to the dermatologist who probably saved me from melanoma just in time. I've gotten to be a frequent flyer at his clinic for freezing and scorching sessions to fix all the damage. Sun block and wide-brim hats are the norm now.