I’m Carol Rock, news director at KHTS and I’m here to tell you about a freckle.

This freckle was on my left knee and had been there all my life. It's always been dark brown and didn't change shape, but occasionally itched. I dismissed that as sunburn or using an off-brand lotion, but something in the back of my mind made me think it was time to have it looked at. So I had it removed a couple of months ago.

They sent it to the lab for analysis, but results were inconclusive and it was forwarded all the way across the country, where doctors from Harvard did more pathology on my lifetime brown companion.

The verdict: malignant melanoma. They needed more tissue from my knee and my primary physician was worried.

I went to see a surgeon, who said my freckle's bad attitude only went down .3 centimeters, which was very minor. He reassured me that we caught it early and I’ll have to have a little more cut out near my knee as a precaution. I scheduled the surgery that day and made a note to bring my iPod for the 20-minute procedure.

 
Before I left, the doctor asked me why I wanted the freckle removed in the first place - had it changed color? size? shape? Nope, I told him. I just felt funny about it. He said it was probably the best decision I'd made in my life.

I’m here to tell you that the surgery went well and instead of a freckle, I now have a long, thin line right above my left knee. Not quite a fashion statement, but the alternative would have been a career-ender.

The moral? Never ignore your gut feelings. And get yourself checked every year, with a full body exam. Sometimes the naked truth is a life-saver.