Last time I ignored it while it gradually got bigger and bigger–and then my daughter got diagnosed with melanoma at 29 and I finally listened to my husband and got my basal-cell cancer diagnosed and cut out.
I have a divot in the center of the top of my head and a bit less hair, not that anyone but me could tell, to remind me to take such things more seriously.
This time I didn’t wait. I made that appointment as soon as it was clear that that bright red spot was definitely bigger than when I was squinting to see if it really was a thing. Front and center at the hairline on my scalp, let’s get that one cut out in the really early stages this time, okay?
The verdict today:
Angioma. A swollen little blood vessel that is just there, is all. They show up. It may go away. It may always be there now. Utterly harmless.
So much better to know than to wonder about it for months on end and then have to pay its price.
Someone out there needs this nudge like I did: please get checked.
That particularly aggressive melanoma? It was caught in the first two weeks during an appointment for something else. Surgery but no need for chemo at that early, and three years later she continues to be just fine and I am too.
Go in.