A Word from Ron Jacober at KMOX Radio

If you've lived in the St. Louis area and ever listened to a Cardinal's baseball game growing up, you probably heard the voice of a co-worker of mine at KMOX Radio - Ron Jacober. Ron has semi-retired now but just sent out the following email. It's a life-saver so please read it.
And now, a word from Ron Jacober:

Tuesday morning....

Good Morning....hope you are all well. I don't get to see many of you very often any more. I miss that.
I'm writing this with the hope that is some some of you will take a couple minutes to read it when you have some free time, and who knows, it may save you or someone you know from pain and suffering--and possibly worse.
This is kind of personal stuff but because I consider KMOX part of my family we will just keep it among friends.
About six weeks ago, Lois was standing in our kitchen and wearing a shirt that was cut a little low in the back. My daughter-in-law noticed an ugly spot on her back (about three inches below the neck) and said, "is that a mole? That doesn't look good. You better have that checked" It was discolored and oddly shaped. We asked around for recommendation for a dermatologist and got one from a friend. A quick appointment was made. When the doctor saw Lois, she didn't wait to make another appointment, the mole was surgically removed immediately. The doctor stitched up the hole told her to come back in a week and the pathology would be in--and also suggested that I have an exam at that time. We went back the following week. The doctor examined me and found three moles that were questionable. She removed two and did a biopsy on the third. Then, she said let's go see your wife. I knew the news probably wasn't good. She informed us that Lois' test showed the mole was Melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer. She explained that Melanoma is so dangerous because if it gets into the lymph nodes, radiation and chemo are very ineffective. In other words,......well, you don't want to hear the other words. This cancer can be a silent killer. There is no pain, no symptoms (other than the physical appearance) until it's advanced into the body through the lymphy nodes. She had scheduled Lois with a surgeon even before she gave us the news. I said oh, we have plans for that day. The doctor looked at me as if to say--"no you don't". Four days later, Lois had four injections of radio active dye in her back (painful) to find the "sentinal" lymph nodes--the nodes related to that place on her back. X-rays showed two radio active nodes, one in the armpit, the other in her neck. The surgeon made a cut of about 4 and a half inches in the shape of a football on her back to remove skin and tissue around the area where the mole was removed, then other cuts to find and remove the radio active lymph nodes. One long week of waiting went by and finally we received word that the pathology came back negative. There was no involvement in the lymph nodes. A few tears and a lot of smiles.
So, it was back to the doctor for me. She said she had good news and bad news. The good news--two of the moles were normal. The bad news the third mole--you guess it--Melanoma! Only three percent of skin cancers are melanoma and we both had it. The doctor said that's almost off the charts. The difference between mine and the one on Lois' back is that mine was much "thinner". They judge the severity by how thick they are under the microscope. So, they said there was no lymph node involvment for me at this point---just some surgery to cut out a chunk of my side. Now, as of yesterday, I'm the one with the 4 inch incision and many, many stitches, inside and out. (I told him to take as much fat as he could find along with it!)
Why am I writing this? Because the dermatologist told me, "your daughter-in-law may have saved your wife's life." She indicated that another couple months might have made a big difference. We were told for both of it it is a 90+ percent cure rate. We have be be checked every three months for a year.
SO THE REASON I'M WRITING THIS IS TO ENCOURGE YOU TO examine yourself and your partner and if you notice anything out of the ordinary with skin condition, unusual color, strange looking moles, please don't wait to have them checked out. I knew that one on my side was there a long time but just ignored it. I know that getting sun tans are popular and the tanning salons are almost in invitation to cancer. (Athough it's not always caused by sun exposure). The doctor told me she had treated women in their mid 20's for cancer because of the time then spent in the tanning salons. This stuff can be deadly. By the way, it's an easy research on line if you google melanoma.
If you have read this far, thank you. Again, this is not a plea for sympathy--just a plea for you to do something we didn't do. Pay attention to your body!

Ron Jacober