Ep 3: Mohs On My Nose - Skin Cancer Journey and Awareness with Kelli Ellis

HAIRY CHIN_EP03_TRANSCRIPT

“Mohs On Your Nose - Kelli Ellis’ Skin Cancer Journey and Awareness”

Host: Spencer Moore

Guest: Kelli Ellis

Welcome to the Hairy Chin Podcast. I'm Spencer Moore, your host, here to explore the good, the bad, the hairy and the fabulous of female health. Join us for eye-opening conversations, myth-busting insights, and relatable stories that celebrate the realities of womanhood. And don't miss our Pluck This! segment for tangible takeaways from each episode. Life takes a village, let's do this together.

Spencer Moore: Hi guys! Welcome to Episode three! I’m really excited to be hosting Kelli Ellis today. She’s an award-winning International Designer, Speaker, Artist and Author of the best-selling book “Do I Look Skinny In This House?” She is currently starring in The Design Network’s “Extravagant Spaces.” You can find it at www.thedesignnetwork.com and also on Hulu and Roku. Hi, Kelli!

Kelli Ellis: Hello!

Spencer Moore: How are you?

Kelli Ellis: I'm great.

Spencer Moore: It's kind of funny because we're, like, six blocks from each other in Barcelona, but here we are in a digital studio, doing an interview.

Kelli Ellis: As you do, because it's pouring rain outside.

Spencer Moore: So, pouring a huge thunderstorm today. It's crazy. Yeah. We never get this weather.

Kelli Ellis: I'm actually enjoying this, this is a nice summer. It's cool. So I'm good with it.

Spencer Moore: Yeah. And it's cloudy and there's not a lot of sun, which is great because that's what we're going to talk about today is sun and sun damage. So I'll enjoy a cloudy, rainy day because I don't have to stress so much about my skin.

Kelli Ellis: Exactly. Very nice.

Spencer Moore: I'm really excited to have you here for an interview today, because you have gone through a quite unique experience with sun damage and diagnosis of skin cancer and treatment. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what you went through?

Kelli Ellis: Well, skin cancer is not new to my family, we're fair and prone, and so I've had a many basal cell, primarily basal cell cancers removed. You know, my body on my chest. I am a lot older than 54 and two weeks. But look, ladies, don't take years off of your age. You'll look terrible for your number. Like you need to add ten years. Then everybody thinks you look incredible.

Spencer Moore: Very good advice, right?

Kelli Ellis: Right. Anyway, so I was an 80s baby, right? Like we cooked in the sun. Literally, like body oil and all around baby oil. And shiny reflect shiny reflective surfaces. Like, we had things that we laid on that looked like tinfoil. It was so bad. It was so bad. Cooked my skin. So now I'm paying for it. And so anyway, I'm not new to basal cell cancer. I am new to basal cell cancer on my face. Right. And so I had this weird patch on my nose.

Spencer Moore: So right kind of where your glasses lie, on the bridge.

Kelli Ellis: Right here. It was skin colored, but it was kind of flat and kind of indented, and I noticed it was moving. It was growing. And so I went to the dermatologist and said, while you're at it, scan the whole body, but tell me,

Spencer Moore: check me out.

Kelli Ellis: Right. What's going on? Right. And what is this? This is weird. And you know, they have a little light and they've got their little scope. And they.

Spencer Moore: You can tell they're special little magnifiers.

Kelli Ellis: Right? But whatever, it is, bells and whistles went off and he went, oh yeah, that's basal. And because of where it is very close to your sinuses, it needs to come out. It has to be removed. And I thought, okay, normally I don't care, like big deal. Right. Just do it. Do whatever you got to do. Cut it out. Burn it out. Whatever the procedure was. This is like it's right smack in the middle of my face. Right? Right.

Spencer Moore: And you're a TV host, you’re a TV host in front of the camera. This is your job. And your profession is your face!

Kelli Ellis: That as you know, because I went straight to you. I went Oh my gosh, they want to cut my face, and I just don't know, I got to I got to look into a million other things, and I and I did look into a million other things. And, yes, I talked to some other dermatologist because I'm thinking, okay, now this is a terrible option. And I, you know, afraid that I was going to look different and it was going to be terrible. And, you know, I'm not so much worried about the scar because a scar is a scar, as I was the alteration. Yes. The alteration, I thought it was going to be. Really. And it is different. I'm not gonna lie. Like my nose is a different nose than it was before. Yeah, right. But he was very skilled, very, very good.

Spencer Moore: Yes. So to talk about kind of your diagnosis and up until your treatment plan, how long were you kind of following this before you and or how many you said that you are a second opinion can talk us through the process of when you noticed it to when you had your treatment and what that was.

Kelli Ellis: Well, I noticed it probably six months before I even went into the doctor, right. I was watching it change. I thought it was a nose pad thing. First I thought, oh, it's just the nose pad. The indentation here. Yeah. Right.

Spencer Moore: Right, because you wear glasses almost all day.

Kelli Ellis: Totally, I'm thinking, okay, this is going to be, you know, that's what that's what this is. This is just something weird. And then as it grew across the bridge of my nose and got kind of flatter in this weird spot, you kind of see in a certain light, you know, like, nobody would really notice it. Right? If I, I knew it was there. And so, I let that go for probably six months. Then I finally went to see the doctor. He's like, cut it out. And I was thinking, how do you remove that much skin on the top of my nose without altering the way I look? There's no way in hell. And then, of course, you as you do, you jump on online and you start doing your research to start looking at other factors.

Spencer Moore: Doctor Google.

Kelli Ellis: Exactly, which is terrifying. Right? Right. And then, I went to go see another doctor because I was like, there's no way I'm going to go and get this cut. Like, this is going to be face altering. And so I probably and it was summer, I got the I, he gave me that in July and I was thinking, okay, how am I going to stay out of the sun? I actually had a vacation planned in August, so I just didn't do it. I didn't do it for months. I didn't get back to that same doctor until November of the same year. So. Right.

Spencer Moore: And you live in Barcelona, so I remember you were going back and forth between whether you would wait, go back to the States or whether you would find a physician here in Barcelona that could do it. Because there's also the language barrier. It's a different health care system here. There were a lot of factors that you were dealing with.

Kelli Ellis: There were. But like the healthcare system here is a million times better. The man spoke English like, I just came up with like a I've got a million excuses why I wasn't good at doing it.

Spencer Moore: There you go. Okay.

Kelli Ellis: Full transparency. The man spoke English. He's very skilled. Yes it would. I have great insurance. That's, you know, a hundred times better than anything I had in the States. So right there was, it was just me not wanting to do this. And I was a little afraid. Like, I can say he's skilled because I now know he did an incredible job. Right. But, you know, I didn't know. I thought I would need a plastic surgeon. Right. So that's on my face rather than just a dermatologist. I saw “just a dermatologist.”. But a dermatologist that specializes in Mohs, which is what the surgery is.

Spencer Moore: So you're talking of the Mohs procedure, which is that procedure that they did to remove the cancer cells. So tell us a little bit about how that played out.

Kelli Ellis: Well, Mohs I'm sure those of you who've been through it or may or may not know, it's a very precise removal of just the cancer cells. So they'll take out what they can see, and then they'll test it and test the borders of that removal. And then if there's still cancer on the borders, then they'll go and do just a little, teeny tiny bit more.

Spencer Moore: And then they kind of shave off the surface of the skin bit by bit, and then just keep testing each one.

Kelli Ellis: It goes wider and wider and wider so they know the certain depth. Right. There's a certain depth of the cancer. And so they'll keep they'll they'll cut out what they need to, especially on the bridge of the nose. Right. So it's only so deep like basically the cartilage is showing when they cut my face.

Spencer Moore: Right, right. Like it's it's they're, you know we’re digital! We heard a little bit of Lucy. Who's your French bulldog.

Kelli Ellis: Yeah. It’s thunderstorming here. So she was saying hello and yeah the dogs are freaking out a little. Yeah.

Spencer Moore: That's right, So the Mohs Procedure.

Kelli Ellis: So they went down to the cartilage to begin with so that they could get the depth of it. And then they used a wider and wider and wider to see how big and of course, here's this is the part that was scary. He said, okay, I'm going to keep going until there's no more cancer. Clearly it's my job, right? He said. But there are different outcomes. I can either just do a straight stitch after we're done, which will pull the tip of your nose up temporarily to close this incision, or if it's very big and very deep, we have to create a flap, a skin flap, a skin flap. And so he said I would cut here, from the forehead from the forehead. It doesn't come down and stay there temporarily. That's not what this kind of flap is. This flap is a cut here. Come down the side, go around this side and then across this side.

Spencer Moore: So they would take the top of the forehead and they would cover basically the part that they removed on your nose. yeah. Yeah. Right.

Kelli Ellis: Yeah. Right. Like a, like a permanent skin flap. Not a temporary one that would actually grow skin back. So those are very, very scary you know, it's a lot of scarring like a lot of scarring and, and, neither of them sounded great. You know, if the stitch across the top obviously was the best case scenario and I just hoped for that because the other one was a lot, a lot of potential altering. And then, but I just didn’t know. I searched and researched and searched and searched.

Spencer Moore: So you were looking for somebody that would kind of show you what they went through, so you could kind of have an idea, right?

Kelli Ellis: Yeah. You know, we share so much of our lives. I thought for sure there was going to be, you know, 10, 15 different people sharing their ugly photos, you know, because we just that's what we do. We share so much. And there was no ugly photo. I mean, there was one woman, I must have just inundated her with so many messages and she was so lovely and responding to me and telling me that I promise you, it will be fine. I promise you, you'll be good. Yeah. You know, it's gonna work out. This is how. And she showed her ugly photos. But, I followed her before the procedure, and I was glued. When I see that I read and reviewed this blog every day, just to be sure afterwards. Because that's how my, as my mother put it, vain I was, about how I looked. Like, it was terrifying. It is terrifying.

Spencer Moore: Anytime that you go through any sort of medical treatment, especially one that's going to affect your appearance, it's terrifying. And I think it's good to be talking about it because a lot of people share these sentiments.

Kelli Ellis: I honestly, I can handle, like anything on my body. You know, you just put on a shirt and you're good. Like you're like, okay, no one's going to see that, right? With the things that I had cut out and stitches and I was like, whatever, just add it to the stretch marks I have from childbirth. Like, who cares, right? Right. Just another. It's another thing. But to your point, like I mentioned earlier, I have a TV show and I have for many years done things, like I'm the face of the company that I work for, and I am the outward this and outward that. I thought, oh my gosh, is this going to be okay? Like I'm going to deal with it and I have to deal with it. But I really did feel like a jerk because, hey, the cancer's gone, but oh my God, what happened to my face? I know and I, I will share that with you.

So, when I went in he was like, it's everything's going to be fine, don't worry, cause you're awake during the procedure. Right? So you're just laying underneath a blanket with just your nose sticking out? Yeah. I'm not. Yeah, I think that's. This is a little nerve wracking. Yeah. I just feel very exposed. I feel terrible, like I'm going down. Okay. I just kept thinking in my head, if you're going to remove this giant circle on the top of my nose from here to here, and you're going to lift my nose up, I know anybody my age is going to know the Twilight Zone episode where a guy wakes up right? And he's got a perfect nose, but everyone else in the room has got this pig nose, and they think he looks. They think he looks terrible. They're like, oh my, you know, right there they're shocked at how terrible he looks. Okay, well that's that reverse feeling for me. I'm laying there.. It looks like the same damn room as this Twilight Zone. I'm not kidding. It's just me completely covered, except for my nose. And I pictured me coming out of this thing with a pig nose. Well, right. lo and behold, 25 minutes later and he's like, all done, all stitched up. And I was it was from here to here that I had this

Spencer Moore: So completely across like the bridge of your nose.

Kelli Ellis: Completely across. Right. I walked out, I walked into the room where the patients can sit. I looked in the mirror and I passed out and almost fell over. My nose is already like, I already have a little “dawn” of a nose, and I already had nostrils that were prominent. Right. And so like, you're going to see up, you could always you know, I always had this little nose.

Spencer Moore: See up your nose!

Kelli Ellis: Right. Now, I'm looking at my brain. Okay. Now I'm sure this is my brain matter that I can see my nose is up in the air and I almost died. I was, I was, I was like, are you okay? Just leave. Just leave. Don't start crying. Don't start crying. Don’t start crying. Don’t start crying.

Spencer Moore: It's like when you get a bad haircut and you're like, it looks great, then you get in your car and you just start crying, you know.

Kelli Ellis: Like, it's just my hair is just going to grow, it’s just going to grow., it's going to be fine, okay. That it was that. And I was thinking, oh my God, he just cut out. How is this going to go back? There's no way this is going to go back. He just removed the skin. My nose is in the air. This is how I'm going to look. I should be grateful. I should be really grateful. I don't have cancer on my face. But I'm not. I'm not at all. I'm not grateful. And so I went home, died. He's like, keep a bandage on. I'm like, oh, I'll keep a bandage on it. As you remember. Yes. Because I couldn't look. I couldn't walk by a mirror and look at myself. That's right. How traumatic it was. Like, who is that?

Spencer Moore: Well, I think that there's also there's maybe pressure a little bit, for when you have something like this where you remove the cancer, that you should be really grateful, but it has altered your body. And I think Christina Applegate was really it was interesting to hear her talk about her mastectomy when she had her breast cancer removed. And she said, I went out and I told everybody that I was so happy with my body, and then I was so happy cancer free. And she said, but I hated my body. I hated the way I looked, and I think it's refreshing to be honest about it, because it's how you're feeling and those feelings are valid. And it was stressful. I know it was stressful for you because we're friends here and we talked about it. But I'm happy that you're talking about it here, because I think it's good to share that there's a whole range of feelings that people can have.

Kelli Ellis: Totally, you, yeah, you're very, very grateful, but you also feel like a complete jerk for just thinking about the way you look, you know? And then as you're like, okay, I'm cancer free and now all I can think about is how I look. And I'm on Zoom every day and had to go back to work and had to, you know, pretend like everything's fine. And of course, everyone's like, you look great when I don't look great, but thanks. I look like a Skeletor. But you're sweet, you know? Thank you.

Spencer Moore: But now I, I will ask you the, the tip of your nose was raised up after they finished the Mohs procedure with the stitches, but as it healed, it has come down. Correct?

Kelli Ellis: Correct. Totally. It's not it, but it's not the same nose. I do not have the same nose that I had before. It's funny because, you know, your nose grows throughout your life. So your nose will get bigger and longer as you slowly, slowly, your ears and your nose, they grow, they keep growing. And so I have the nose that I had when I was about 25. Yeah I'm not kidding. Yeah I'm not.

Spencer Moore: A free nose job!

Kelli Ellis: I had a free nose lift. Who knew, I didn't know I needed it! I guess I did and no it is different but it's not, it's not terrible. It did, it did come back. And when he was telling me that the cartilage in the nose is the cartilage in your nose. It will pull the skin and stretch the skin as it needs to to conform back. He goes but it won't be 100%. It will be a little different than it was. He's like, right, and he's and he was 100% correct. And he said, I promise you, no one will see the scar. I don't know how it's possible, but you've seen it. You've been in my face, you. There is no scar.

Spencer Moore: No, there is no scar. Zero. And you have to expect that your nose went through something. Your nose now has its own story.

Kelli Ellis: Haha.

Spencer Moore: It will be different and it will change. Something happened to it and it's going to be different. Right? But I think you've done a great job with that because, you know, it's you've accepted it and and it's been good.

Kelli Ellis: It is what it is. But what I did do and I'm so happy to share this with you, but I took a photo every single day because this woman that I followed took a photo and it saved me to see her progress. Right. And seeing that it did change, and then it did kind of go back and it was a little different, but it was still great. And, you know, she's cancer free and looked great. And I just took a photo because I was like, I am going to share this because it's only fair. And she told me, I wrote to her and said, I'm going to document my journey because there's no information. She said hundreds of people write to her every single day. So.

Spencer Moore: Right.

Kelli Ellis: I'm going to write the blog I've been thinking about writing for you and I'm gonna send you the photo and we're going to make it a full thing so that people can go. And when they're listening to this, or they're finding this, they can also go and look at the photos and 100% know that it's going to be okay, because it really is. That's right. It really is.

Spencer Moore: I know you've learned so much through the process. What were the recommendations that your doctor told you after you were recovering and once you once you healed from this procedure?

Kelli Ellis: Well, I mean, I had some things that really helped like, you know, some healing things, arnica, those kinds of things for your body. Vitamins, Vitamin D, E for your skin, help your skin heal. Clearly I do not bake in the sun like I am, yes, Chica Blanca. Well.

Spencer Moore: Oh and that's good. Yeah that's good.

Kelli Ellis: I cover up so he did not need to tell me to use sunscreen. He did not tell me to use an umbrella like I know, I know that this is my life.

Spencer Moore: Do you wear hats?

Kelli Ellis: I don't, because, you know, I don't. You know I don't!

Spencer Moore: I know, you know, it was a trick question.

Kelli Ellis: Exactly. I've had short hair, since, oh gosh it's almost been nine years now when I cut my hair off. It looks so weird in hats with short hair. I know people, some people are like, you look cute. I don't like it. So no, I don't not. Yeah, not that I'm not a hat person. I used to be a hat person. I'm not a hat person anymore.

Spencer Moore: I know! I'm going to transition into our final segment, which is called Pluck This! and it's where our listeners can get some tangible takeaways from the episode. And what I'd love to talk about in this episode is your favorite sunscreen and skincare that you're using to help protect your skin post cancer treatment?

Kelli Ellis: Okay, so I was like, all right, I need to cut down my process. I'm lazy. I'm sooooo lazy. And you know, the 27-step skincare, shoot me. I can't do it. I just can't. I'm sure it's what makes you look, you know, young forever. I cannot do it. So I, you know, beginning at night and in the morning. I need something speedy. Seriously, I found this product. I'm sure there's an equivalent to it in the US. I think it's a British product.

Spencer Moore: Yes, it's I-S-D-I-N. Here in Spain, we say “Isdin”, but I think in the States perhaps they might spell it out or say “Isden”.

Kelli Ellis: Right.

Spencer Moore: I do believe that it is available in the States. I do love it. What Kelli has shown is kind of a tinted sunscreen.

Kelli Ellis: So it's really great because talk about making it fast and efficient. You've got your coverage and your sunscreen on one.

Spencer Moore: And if I'm not mistaken, Kelli, that one's 50 plus SPF?

Kelli Ellis: It's 50 and it's you know what it is, It's called Fusion Water Color. And the reason they call that is it's super, super, super, super light. Like right. You need to put it on probably with a sponge because it's liquidy, like it's right. You hear that in the microphone. Shake it there.

Spencer Moore: There we go, yeah some ASMR.

Kelli Ellis: Yeah, exactly. It's super, super thin and it goes on really thin. This is what I use for makeup. And I think it's just that fast, that easy, that quick and I love it. I put it on my neck, put it on my chest, put it on my face. You look flawless, but you're also doing your SPF 50.

Spencer Moore: And now there's also some vitamins here that actually my Mom recommended to me because I've been going through kind of a diagnosis that we're just not really quite sure we're watching it. Right. So more to come on later. But there are some vitamins that are made by Cantabria Lab, and they have a high form of Vitamin D. They also have some other things that you can take to help protect your skin in the sun, which I find quite helpful because, look, I think everything that we can do to help protect our skin is really important because you really have to stay vigilant. And some of these things, they aren't as obvious. You don't see them changing and growing. And so they can really kind of sneak out from behind and, and change a lot of things in your life.

Kelli Ellis: Well, you know, it's really interesting that you mentioned the vitamins. I remember this was the trip that I was literally at the beach. It was a beach trip on an island, right? The one I was trying to avoid cutting my face for. And so I had sunscreen and wore a hat that time because you're in the water the entire time. You're on a beach the entire time. And I was thinking, okay, now I know I have this thing on my nose, what am I going to do? And one of the girls, yeah, she showed me, I don't remember the brand, but it was probably like what you're talking about. She goes, you can just take these vitamins and help protect your skin? I was like, is this the trick? Yeah. How?

Spencer Moore:Why have I not been in on this all these years?

Kelli Ellis: I've never heard of this ever in my life. So, you know, there was always that feeling. I don't know if he felt this way growing up, but I always did, is that I always felt somewhere else, Europe or Asia or wherever. I always felt like they had the tricks to things that we just didn't know. LIke either it was skincare or diet or all the things that we care about as women. Right? I felt like there was always things that we just did not know that we, you know, for whatever reason, it just wasn't part of our culture to use or do.

Spencer Moore: And it's true. Yeah.

Kelli Ellis: There are things that people do here that are so different compared to what we do for skincare and health. And it's yeah, it's true. You just need to travel a little bit more and open your eyes and see what people are doing. Right.

Spencer Moore: Well you were talking about a multi, multi faceted skincare and you know it's all the rage here in Barcelona. There are all these Korean skincare stores that have popped up, but it's like a 12 step process. I mean look it's just it's not it's not for me, but I know it's for a lot of people and I think that's great.

Kelli Ellis: Yeah. Good for you. You know. Yes. Yay you. Yeah. And then I move on because it's just not something I'm going to do. It's not for me. That's it.

Spencer Moore: Well, I am so appreciative of your time today. Thank you for joining me down the block. And yes, so Kelly, as she mentioned, will be doing a guest blog on The Spencerita Blog we’ll be sharing the photos through her process and also some information. And I'll also have some of these products that we've mentioned linked in the show notes and also in her blog entry. And I'm just so happy that you're on the other side of this, oh yeah, process. And you know that you can share it with us. I appreciate your honesty, your openness about it.

Kelli Ellis: Oh my gosh, my absolute pleasure. And I'm actually very excited to share the blog and the pictures because I know there's so many people that are perfect for what you're doing in your platform.

Spencer Moore: Yeah, that's fantastic. Well, I love chatting with you. It's like we're at coffee like normal.

Kelli Ellis: I know, it's so fun.

Spencer Moore: And you can check out www.spencerita.com where you can find Kelli's guest Blog and also The Hairy Chin Podcast where I'll have that information in the show notes.

Spencer Moore: So thank you, my dear. Adios! See you soon!

Thanks for joining us on The Hairy Chin Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please head over to www.spencerita.com to join our creative community. I'm Spencer Moore reminding you that knowledge isn't just powerful, it's empowering. When you know better, you do better. So stay strong, keep going, and I'll see you next time.