[flamesabers]

Misty,

It's good to hear you've received some good news about your health. Hopefully you can get the mole removed without any complications.

[Misty0732]

OK, I know I've been absent for a while as I have been dealing with the changing prognosis and diagnose concerning my skin cancer. I received a follow-up call from an oncologist (referred by my dermatologist) this past Monday. He confirmed that the biopsy from May 24 was indeed melanoma, contrary to the call from the nurse, and he scheduled surgery to remove the remainder of the lesion plus a perimeter of healthy skin. I had the surgery yesterday. They took a circle slightly smaller than a half-dollar, going past the epidermis and into the dermis. Thirteen stitches and some skin "super-glue" later and I'm home. The picture below shows the incision as I removed the bandage today to shower (my right upper arm).

   

The doctor is pretty sure that the melanoma was stage 1 and has not spread to my lymph nodes. He believes the vitiligo was most likely caused by my body's immune response but that the response occurred because of the skin lesion and not because the cancer had metastasized. He's basing this on the fact that my lymph nodes show no sign of swelling or hardening.

So now I'm in a wait and see mode. My white blood cell count is still elevated but not as high as before, and it can take some time for the immune system to "calm down" after the stimulus is removed. If I notice swelling in my sentinel lymph node (my right arm pit) the I should immediately schedule a follow-up. Otherwise I am clear and will be rechecked for suspicious skin lesions every 3 months for the next year.

As far as my PM dosage, I had stopped for a couple of weeks right after all this started but have since resumed a fairly low dosage (1000 mg/day) to maintain the calming effect and mental benefits.

So far so good. I am at peace with whatever happens from here but am hopeful that the worst is behind me.

Thanks again for the support!

Misty

[Lenneth]

Sorry to hear about your health problems, best wishes and hopes that this has it licked, any kind of cancer is a nightmare.

Ive had a few relatives and friends who had it, the ones who beat it had one key thing in common, they kept an unbreakable positive and cheerful determination that they were going to beat it without question and it was not going to disrupt their lives much.

and oddly enough the ones who didn't make it actually died from health complications caused by stress and worry and not the cancer.

hope you get well soon.

[flamesabers]

Misty,

It must be quite painful waiting for the scar/stitches to heal up.

It's a relief to hear your treatment has been going favorably. I also hope the worst is behind you.

[Lisia]

Thanks for the update, I'm glad things are on the ups.

[MonikaT]

There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. I'm glad it looks like things are as good as they can be. I hope you have a quick recovery and that this is the end of it.

[EricaB]

Congrats on the prognosis.

My wife had the same thing on the back of her leg. It was removed about 8 years ago with no reappearance, thank goodness. But now she religiously gets a head-to-toe checkup by her dermatologist once a year just to be sure and wears sunscreen every day. Although if memory serves me (which it usually doesn't), I think she went more frequently the first year or two.

By the way, we've had good luck minimizing scaring by applying neosporin antibiotic ointment and a cut open vitamin E capsule to the incission daily. Having a little OCD, one day I'd apply the E first then the neosporin on top; the next day the neosporin first with the E on top. Whether it's luck, genes, or this regiment I cannot see any hint of where I had minor surgery on my arm. You might also consider something like Mederma which seems to work well on scars, but is a bit pricey.