Following is an account of my surgery this past week. I hope it sends a message to everyone that you need to use sunscreen to protect your skin.

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I'm an AZ native and when I was young sunscreen was not yet invented, and if it was, no one I knew used it. We would swim for hours in the summer sun and I frequently would end the day with blisters on my shoulders and nose from the sun exposure. Getting a tan was as popular in my high school and college days as it is now. Except today, the earth's ozone layer is breaking down and the harmful ultra-violet rays of the sun are more damaging than ever.

Since my late-20's, I been a frequent visitor to the skin doctor. I've had at least 300-400 pre-cancerous spots burnt off my face, neck, arms, and hands. I've had five cancers cut out of my neck, shoulder and back. One was scraped out of my check and another from the side of my nose. None were the most dangerous form---melanoma---but trust me, it still hurt. That was all before yesterday, March 30th. Let me tell you about that.

Yesterday morning I arrived at Dr. Robert Griego's surgical center in Mesa at 7:00 a.m. for the removal of a basal cell cancer from the side of my left nostril. I checked in and was soon led into a treatment room where I took a seat in a chair similar to what you'd find at the dentist's office.

Dr. Griego and his nurse soon were over me examining my nose. I pointed out two other small suspect spots on my nose and the doctor said he'd biopsy them. The "fun" was about to begin.

Dr. Griego grabbed the syringe and injected my nose in four places to numb me up. Each injection stung like a bee and made my eyes water. In a few seconds, the doctor took his two biopsies and started the first phase of the Mohs procedure on the spot that had already been diagnosed earlier by my regular dermatologist.

Mohs micrographic surgery is the most modern, accurate, and most highly specialized treatment for the total removal of skin cancer. Mohs surgery (pronounced like "nose" with an "m") is named in honor of Dr. Frederick Mohs, the physician who developed the technique at the University of Wisconsin in 1936. Mohs method of skin cancer treatment is unique because it is the only method that provides the use of complete microscopic examination of all the tissues removed surgically, in addition to providing detailed graphic mapping techniques for orientation purposes; thus the term micrographic surgery.

This procedure allows the surgeon to visualize and remove every cancer cell. It is initiated after the skin has been numbed with a local anesthetic. The visible portion of the cancer and a very thin rim of surrounding skin are then removed and examined. Any remaining cancer seen during the microscopic examination is carefully marked on a map, which precisely locates the area relative to the patient's skin. Another thin layer of tissue is then removed from the exact area that demonstrated involvement with cancer. This sequence is repeated as often as necessary to completely remove the cancer.

After the first phase, I was temporarily bandaged up and sent to the waiting room for the results of the biopsy and lab report on the first tissue removal. About 45 minutes later the nurse summoned me back into the treatment room for round two. Bad news: The two biopsies were positive for basal cell cancer.

I had to be numbed up again and this time it took six injections, all of which surprisingly hurt worse than the first ones. The doctor came in and started his work on the two new cancers and took some more tissue from the original spot I came to him for. Then it was back to the waiting room again while the new samples were examined in the lab.

An hour later the nurse came for me again. More tissue needed to be taken from all three spots. Four additional pain killing injections were needed, each stinging more than the previous ones. Round three with the doctor followed and then it was back to the waiting room…….how many times was I going to need to go in there again?

Thirty minutes later the nurse came again—good news this time. One of the spots was clear, no more cancer cells present on the right side of my nose. Only one injection was needed this time and the doctor went back to work, then I headed back to the waiting room with all the other patients.

The waiting room was an interesting place. Dr. Griego works on 6-8 patients at a time and each was decorated with a bandage or two in a variety of places. Some had them on their ears, the forehead, cheeks, temples, etc. Skin cancer strikes the body almost everywhere.

Round five had more good news. The spot I originally came to the doctor for was now clear. Two more very annoying injections and the doctor was back digging in the last crater of hell, hopefully he'd get it all because I was frazzled.

Approximately 20 minutes later the nurse came to get me……"all clear," she said and time to decide on how to patch up the damage to my beak.

I had a choice: I could let the wounds heal on their own with a resulting scar, I could ask for stitches which would improve the cosmetics somewhat, or in the case of the deepest wound, get a skin graft. I asked the doctor for his suggestion and he recommended a combination of all three……so that's what we chose to do.

I headed for the operating room of the clinic where the nurse shot me up with six more doses of painkiller. The doctor was busy tending to other patients so I laid on the table for what seemed like an hour waiting for the final phase of treatment.

Finally, 5 ½ hours after I started this procedure, the end was in sight. More injections were needed along with extensive cauterization of the wounds. The smell of burning flesh filled the room. The doctor then went to work preparing the skin graft. He took surrounding skin from one of the hollowed areas that he planned to stitch, and used it to make a patch for the deepest wound on my nostril. He sewed the graft in place and stitched the upper hole shut higher up on left side of my nose. We chatted about basketball while he worked. Dr. Griego is a Shadow Mountain graduate so of course, Mike Bibby was one of our topics.

When the doctor finished the nurses led me to an area where she bandaged me up and provided instructions for care of the wounds. At the 6-½ hour mark, I was ready to go home.

Again, I wrote this account mainly for the benefit of our young people who think they are impervious to the effects of aging and the damage the sun can do to them. In fact, the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma, strikes people of all ages.

Use sunscreen lotion, I wish I had more often.