Be Careful with the Suntan Lotion

(To read my cancer story from the beginning start here – April / May 2018 – You Have Cancer)

June 2019 and the weather was similar to when I was in hospital July/August 2018, a bit of a heatwave.

When I was in my teens early 20’s, even 30’s (before I got fat) I didn’t need much of an excuse to get my top off and get out in the sun.

Well here I was back to the same weight I was at 19, the sun was shining, I was half way through a good book and the deckchair in the garden was calling.

Knowing I had to be careful of direct sunlight due to my radiotherapy I got myself a nice floppy sun hat and some factor 50 sun tan lotion which I liberally applied to my face and neck.

I also thought I better put a bit on my tummy scar and a bit round the hole left from where my PEG was fitted

So there I was stripped to the waist sat out in the sun reading my book, the problem was I was so engrossed in my book I wasn’t keeping an eye on the time, when there was a knock on the window and there was my wife saying “don’t you think you’ve been out in the sun a bit long?”

I checked the time and what I thought was only about 20 minutes, was over an hour, so I thought I better go back in.

Initially I didn’t think much of it until a few hours later when I noticed how red I was going, but worse than that was the splodgy white bits.

I had a white line along my belly, a big round splodge round my PEG hole a white half front right shoulder and even a few finger marks where I’d obviously touched myself with fingers full of suntan lotion.

Over the coming days my red bits got redder and my white bits stayed white

I had never realised until then just how good the suntan lotion must be

I thought about going back out with no lotion on my white bits, but my red bits were so burnt I thought I better not

Other the next few weeks the red bits browned off nicely but the white bits remained white and really stuck out basically as though I had vitiligo

So much for showing off my new slim physique this summer, I might as well still be fat, I thought 🙁

My Cancer story continues here – The Summer of 2019

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• 3 Years After Operation for Jaw Cancer
• 3 Years After Being Told I had Jaw Cancer
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• 2 Years on from Hearing I Had Cancer
• Early 2020
• The Last Months of 2019
• The Summer of 2019
• Be Careful with the Suntan Lotion
• Getting Ill When Recovering from Cancer
• How Stupid is the Tax Credit System Cancer Sufferers
• 12 Months on From Being Told I Have Cancer – A Brief Summary
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• My 1st Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy Sessions
• Back at home, the calm before the storm
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• The Day of the Operation
• My 1st Night in Hospital
• Pre Op Arrangements
• Having a Feeding Tube Fitted – Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG)
• Telling Your Family You Have Cancer
• Coventry Warwick Coventry
• April / May 2018 – You Have Cancer