Not for the faint of heart...disclaimer....Bradley's surgery photos

About 6 months ago, I noticed a skin abnormality on Mariah's neck turned a dark color. I took her to the doctor and insisted that he biopsy it. He didn't want to. After a cursory examination, my doctor (who I love, by the way) claimed that the abnormality was simply vascular in nature and that I had nothing to worry about. I pushed.

The biopsy results showed cancerous cells. We went back in and had a larger section removed from Mariah's neck.

This got Bradley worried because he has similar skin abnormalities. We took him to a dermatologist, and a biopsy of his spots also proved to have cancerous cells. You guessed it. We went back in for a minor surgery to remove the affected area.

The surgery was fascinating in the execution and accuracy. The dermatologist is a skilled professional, and there will be minimal scaring.

The message here.....WEAR SUNSCREEN! These kiddos are 15 and 17, respectively. They are fair skinned, red-headed kids who love to have a tan. Unfortunately, their pigmentation does not lend itself well to tanning. Burning, yes. Tanning, no. They think they are invincible, but we've really tried to impress upon them how serious skin cancers are. I have no idea if the message is sticking, but I hope it does.

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This first pic is what it looks like after the numbing agent is doing its job. The red dots are needle marks. The other dots are enlarged pores from the lytocane.

This picture is the initial incision.

It was truly alarming to see how deep the incision was. The doctor told me that I could watch as long as I wasn't going to pass out (and he was serious).

This site almost did me in. It's about 1/4 of an inch deep. The dermis layer was much thicker than I thought it was. The slightly yellowish layer at the bottom is actually fat.

The next few pictures are the stitches.

All done!

He gets his stitches out on Monday, March 30th!