Post surgery response and impact.

Hi Seashell2  Completely normal.  I was just the same but my tears and worries were before I had the surgery for 2 bcc's on my face.  Mine are a year on now, but at the moment I am going through a period of worry of what I have been through.  It is completely normal.  To the medics they are small in the grand scheme of things BUT to us they are huge worries.  To have skin flap and skin graft surgery is no minor thing in my opinion and I went through both of these.  I am 73 and dont cope with trauma like this at my age, but people just brush it off as only a minor skin cancer and they are NOT, they are nasty little beasts.  My skin graft was a right mess and Plastic surgeon was worried it hadnt taken, but he just kept saying in the fullness of time, I am sure it will be ok, and it is.  Friends tell me my scars are hardly visible to them but I can see them.  Whereabouts was you bcc.  Please feel free to contact me again as this site was my life line when I felt low.  My hubby was brilliant but he didn't know how I actually felt, people who have been through it do know.  Good Luck and cry if you need to.x

Hi seashell2

I had a basal cell removed from my nose back in June and mentally and emotionally I'm still recovering. I'm extremely paranoid about anything that appears on my face and still have flashbacks and crying episodes.

It's all completely normal. The surgeon was lovely but it's made no difference to my reaction.

In time it will get better but you have to give it time. You need to feel how you're feeling and not force anything.

They may be viewed as minor by some people but to anyone having one or more removed from their face they're anything but minor. 

Please keep in touch and feel free to ask anything. It's  a great place to offload and get answers.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.  I feel so much better knowing that it's normal/ok to feel so distressed.   My cancer was on my forehead so I am very lucky in that my fringe will cover it most of the time.  I am not excessively vain but I think with it being facial, you can't escape it and it is coming to terms with that (usually I am quite good at positive denial! Which I know won't work this time! I am going to cry it all out !  Thank you so much for your advice xxx

Thanks so much PuckettyBoo.  Having permission to cry somehow really helps.   It is so much better hearing from people who have been through this.  It is my first day back in work without the dressings tomorrow and I am super sensitive to comments plus feel drained.  I lost both parents to cancer when they were 58 - 4 years older than I am now.  The very word has such bad memories (of course BCC is highly curable) but that doesn't seem to compute on an emotional level or at 3am in the morning!  Thank you both so much for your kind words - really helps xxx

Hi Seashell Glad Puckettyboo and I were able to help you and tell you what you are feeling is absolutely normal.  Puckettyboo and myself have become good friends from this site and have helped one another through our journey and understand what we are both going through and check up on one another to ask how we are feeling, which is lovely.  3am was the time I used to wake, sit up in bed and just cry too must be a trigger time. Never be alone with your thoughts we are here to support and help one another.  Join our Club the more the merrier.  Good Luck xx

Lovely to meet you both.  I feel a lot less pressured accepting that this is going to take time to process and that it's normal.   Thank goodness for McMillan and people like you because the emotional impact of cancer is big isn't it.  It still feels strange using that word xxx