Most skin cancers are easily removed and not a big deal if caught early, so rest assured that you are doing the exact right thing, and everything will probably be okay. Even the surgery - though it has that scary "surgery" name tends not be as abig a deal these days as it used to be.

A friend of mine who grew up in South Carolina sun and then moved up here said to me once - it seems like they're removing so much skin from a nose, I ought to just tell 'em give me a whole new one, okay? But after a few weeks of bandaids, she was fine.

I am one of those "skin cancer poster children" myself - pale skin, blue eyes, blonde as a child, freckles, but I worry more about my Irish-heritage husband, who has dark hair but the fair skin and myriad freckles of his red-headed mom, brother and cousins. And so far, every spot I have made him have a doctor check has been just fine, nothing to worry about.