cancer – Pete's Blog

We have two eleven year old cairn terriers, Ziggy and Lulu. Ever since they were puppies we have loved going for walks together. We have done some pretty strenuous walks including parts of the West Highland and Southern Upland Ways. They always had so much more energy than me, running up ahead and then coming back as we walked. Unfortunately Ziggy now has multiple cancers and it has reached the stage where I can only take Lulu for walks.

Ziggy doesn’t like it. She has a strong fear of missing out, and looks at me with her big brown eyes when I leave her at the door. Lulu doesn’t like it. She shouts at me that I have forgotten her sister, and she misses her playmate on the beach. And I don’t like it. I miss my companion, with her gangling gait and “at heel” loyalty.

But even taking her down the road to the village green is becoming too much. She just needs to be at home, in the warm, mostly sleeping. It is a sad situation.

But I should celebrate that she is still with us. She was given three months to live a year and a half ago, and she still welcomes me with a wagging tail when I get her up in the morning. And when she has gone it will be even tougher for Lulu. She isn’t the sharpest of dogs and will not understand.

But for now I will make the most of my walks with Lulu, and my time with Ziggy, cuddling her and giving her sausages.

Sorry for a downbeat blog this week. I’ll get back to my usual “everything is awesome” next week.

About 15 years ago I had a skin cancer taken off the back of my hand. I have a lot of moles on my skin and one of them had gone a bit itchy. When tested it turned out to be a malignant melanoma. Fortunately it was early stage and I had no other issues after the removal. Despite the skin cancer, I rarely use suntan cream when on the boat, but this week it has been so hot and sunny I felt I needed to. As I was putting cream on the back of my arm I found a small raised mole, and when I photographed it, it turned out I had two red moles not looking exactly normal.

As you can imagine, after my previous experience I felt a little nervous but it is hard to see a GP when on the boat. Our GP is in Scotland and will not speak to me when I am in England – apparently the two health services are separate. But seeing a GP in England is difficult because our address is in Scotland. It is one of the many challenges about not having a fixed address. But fortunately I have access to a video consultation through some insurance, so I spoke to an online GP who looked at the photo and said it was probably benign and not an issue, but I should see a private dermatologist. This was all sounding quite expensive, so I waited till Wednesday, when I was back up in Scotland for the day, preparing for my wife’s 60th birthday party. I called my own GP who kindly saw me that same day.

He gave me a thorough examination and said that these two red spots are entirely normal – some kind of blood blemish – and nothing to worry about. He did find three black moles on my back that he said we should keep an eye on, but all in all, a great result.

So I wonder, was I wasting my time and that of the NHS getting these small moles checked? Should I have bothered? The doctor said I was doing exactly the right thing, especially given my medical history. Unnecessary stress maybe. But much better than not getting them checked and finding out too late that I had a problem.

Tag: cancer

Why am I only walking one dog?

Should I get my moles checked?