The "Making A Bad Decision" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking in the mirror at all the spots on my face and head that my dermatologist froze a few days ago.  Seems that every time I go to the skin doctor I return home sporting a head that has red marks that will eventually turn to scabs and them fall off.  We all make bad decisions in our life and one of mine is spending too much time in the sun.  I have documented the many surgeries I have had from my visits to the dermatologist's office, but its tough to undo the damage that was done years ago when wearing sunscreen was unheard of.  When I was a child my family traveled to the Chesapeake Bay yearly for vacation with our extended family and my parents never had me wear sunscreen.  I can remember peeling sunburn in sheets from my body just about every summer.  The sun was considered healthy and you looked healthier if you had a tan.  Some people even used baby oil to enhance and bronze their tan.  Well, I know better today that the ultraviolet radiation is making my skin age faster than it should.  Basil cell and squamous cell carcinomas have been removed  many times by either freezing or removing them with surgery.  The mark on my arm which is being diagnosed as I type this may be the next spot for removal.  But, I'm hooked on lying on the beach.  It's my one addiction that I can't seem to break.  It's the same as overeating, smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.  I have been using sunscreen faithfully over the last few years and I guess it is working, but as for staying out of the sun, I don't think that is going to happen.  I reason (evidently not too successfully) that everyone has at lest one bad habit and mine is going to the beach.  If I'm careful and use the sunscreen I should be able to make many more visits.  That is along with the help of my dermatologist who says, when I make a visit sporting a nice tan, "Looks like the sunscreen didn't work!"  Oh, well!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.