A couple of months back I felt something on my lower back that I hadn't felt
before.  I  showed my husband and he thought it was a skin tag.  I showed my
daughter who is in her 4th year of medical school.  She didn't think it was
anything.  It is in area about an inch above my waist in the middle of my
back--over the spine.  I can't see it--even with a double or angled mirror
(ones we have aren't large enough to angle correctly).  A few weeks later I
asked my husband to check it and he thought it appeared larger and suggested I
get it checked out.  In the past I would have just called my surgeon and had
her cut it out.  However, since I've had inflammatory b.c. I am less secure
about having any cutting done in the area of my torso.  I did call my surgeon
and she thought I should call the dermatologist since she said that she wasn't
"good with things like that."  I did call my dermatologist and left a
message--but was actually more concerned about something  else--a rash on my
chest that we were monitoring.  I called him, Thursday before last and received
a call back the  next day from receptionist saying they had a cancellation for
Monday morning.  I took it.
When I went in I talked w/him about rash and almost forgot to mention growth on
my back.  He thought it was a wart and recommended shaving it off.  I asked if
surgical removal would have any advantage.  He said he "no" and also said that
it looked more like a wart than anything and he was 100% and changed that to
99% sure it was benign.
He shaved it off and put it into a bottle.  On the report to pathology he said
"wart" and that was all.  It looked smaller (something circular about 1/8 inch
in circumerance) than what I remembered feeling--something about 1/4" in size.
However, what I felt and what was shaved or what I saw in the bottle may have
been different.  he put a bandage on it, told me to wait one day before
showering and put antibiotic ointment on it (something like Neosporin, I
guess).  I forgot all about it and never did it.
In fact I put a call into him on Thursday about my rash.  So when he called
back on Friday I assumed it was to discuss that.  We did that first and then he
told me that that growth was "superficial and multifocal basal cell carcinoma."
He told me he set me up for a procedure for cauterize? or curettage.  I again
asked him if he thought surgical removal was indicated--he didn't.  At first I
didn't think anything more about and had forgotten that when he had done the
procedure he said he had been so positive it was benign.  I then remembered
that and he had also just told me that he had never seen one like this
before--it was shinier, cleaner, and smoother than what cancers looked like.
I later told my husband and was surprised at his surprised reaction.  I never
heard him say 'what' in the way he did.  It just so happened he had put a call
into my oncologist the day before and left message to ask about something re.
appt. I'd had the day after this procedure.  (I hadn't even mentioned the
procedure to the oncologist).  Anyway, the oncologist happened to call my
husband back soon after I had told him the latest.  He told the oncologist
about it and the oncologist said he was going to call the pathologist and tell
him about my history of b.c.  (I wonder if the oncologist will remember to
mention that I had IBC...).
So, I guess now I am more concerned--and would not be if it were just a basal
cell carcinoma.  I am concerned because the dermatologist had been so sure that
it was benign and that he had never seen anything like I had being malignant.
And I am concerned because the oncologist also showed the reaction he did.  And
I am further concerned because I want to get the 'right' treatment.
Has anyone here heard of anything like this before--something thought to be
basal cell carcinoma that was something different and related to b.c.?