My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 15th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which teachers from around the world participate by posting a story per day.

A few weeks ago I had a small surgery on my left shoulder to remove a patch of melanoma — skin cancer. I’m 43, and I’ve already had similar procedures three additional times in the past few years. The scars are kind of like tattoos —they remind me that I’m not going to live forever.

Each time I’ve had the procedure, the scars heal in a similar way. First they hurt like hell. There’s a visible dent in my body where they’ve removed the cancer plus some extra tissue just in case—like I imagine a bullet wound probably looks. Then the scar gets really itchy and hot. Then the area around the scar gets swollen and stiff and I’m supposed to massage the area to break up the scar tissue — and that’s when this really gross thing happens.

Today, I was pushing on the scar on the back of my shoulder and it… popped….or crunched is probably more accurate. What I mean is that it made an audible crunching and sound and popping sensation. I immediately gagged and felt dizzy with wooziness.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwah! Why does cancer have to be so gross?