Have I ever mentioned how deathly afraid I am of getting skin cancer?
When I was a kid I was a very bronzed little thing…. I loved being in the sun and being tan. I can’t really remember ever getting a sunburn except for during Spring Break on a million different trips to Mexico
That attitude never really quit until the past few years. I love being tan but it just isn’t worth the wrinkles or the damage to my skin.
I have been really good about putting on sunscreen when I go out but to be honest, I just haven’t spent much time out in the sun for the past three summers.
Sorry this is a little drawn out. Are you asking yourself, “C’mon Kristi, get on with the story!”?? I’m getting there.
Well, last week on Wednesday I had the pleasure of spending six straight hours in the sun, working the Track & Field event at school. It was a gorgeous, perfect day.
Of course I brought an entire bottle of sunscreen.
And I passed out the entire bottle of sunscreen to those kids who wanted it (which was about 80%, regardless of their skin color).
I was so concerned about the kids that I didn’t make sure I was completely covered. I put sunscreen on but forgot my shoulders and neck. What a mistake that turned out to be.
Later that night I knew that I had been exposed for way too long. My skin was very hot and was hurting. So I started slathering myself with lotion. Not the aloe kind, but the Vitamin E kind. The next day (Thursday), I put on more and more lotion. I didn’t have any aloe so I just used what I had. My skin was feeling hotter and hotter and I was in misery. I couldn’t sleep I was in so much pain. It was also torture to wear clothes.
By Friday morning my skin had swollen up and was bubbling with blisters. I have never in my life been burned like that.
I called the phone nurse as soon as I got to work on Friday morning to ask what I could do to relieve the burn and the pain and she tells me, “Whatever you do, DO NOT put greasy lotions on it. The oils penetrate your skin deeper into the tissue and accelerate the burn.”
Of course I freaked out a little to understand the my stupidity and ignorance about lotions and sunburn caused me to make my burns worse, to the 2nd degree.
The nurse instructed me to wash the lotion off my skin and apply cold compress but using Solarcane was okay to relieve some of the pain.
I left school, ran up the street to the Phx and bought some Solarcane. As soon as I was back in my office I sprayed a ton on then sat under the fan. That felt good!
As soon as I got home I made a “tube-top” and took some photos. You can see exactly where my sunscreen stopped.
Can you se how swollen it is?? Ouchie
So embarrassing. I am sharing this because I don’t want anyone else to make their burns worse by making the mistake of putting on lotion.
How does this story end?
Right now you can call me lizard woman, I have been peeling on my shoulders since Monday and the skin underneath is raw and damaged.
The nurse told me my skin will be sensitive for at least a year.
I’ve really done it now, there will be no doubt when I caused my future skin cancer.
Now I understand why my brother Brian used to avoid the sun like the plague. lol
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