Understanding pathology

Can I be honest? I mean no offence, but you are the 'worried well' posting on a board for people who have legit been diagnosed with melanoma from early through to late stages. This is not a place for healthy people with health anxiety. You've got the all clear and then the all, all clear. Nothing more can be done to ease your mind. If it's not at ease now it never will be. Go out and live your life or perhaps find a place to discuss health anxiety because honestly, your worries seem totally unfounded in reality.

Can I be honest? I mean no offence, but you are the 'worried well' posting on a board for people who have legit been diagnosed with melanoma from early through to late stages. This is not a place for healthy people with health anxiety. You've got the all clear and then the all, all clear. Nothing more can be done to ease your mind. If it's not at ease now it never will be. Go out and live your life or perhaps find a place to discuss health anxiety because honestly, your worries seem totally unfounded in reality.

Can I be honest? I mean no offence, but you are the 'worried well' posting on a board for people who have legit been diagnosed with melanoma from early through to late stages. This is not a place for healthy people with health anxiety. You've got the all clear and then the all, all clear. Nothing more can be done to ease your mind. If it's not at ease now it never will be. Go out and live your life or perhaps find a place to discuss health anxiety because honestly, your worries seem totally unfounded in reality.

Even if it were a misdiagnosis, the clear margins would make metastasis a very unusual situation. The most likely reason that you would be reading a bunch of stories like mine/ours (clear margins with a return), is because we are here more regularly. The majority of folks with a low stage diagnosis that was resected with clear margins, are not going to be milling around and posting. It's unfortunate, but those of us here at Stage IV metastasis and posting are in the unlucky 2-5%. I can assure you, that after my initial diagnosis… stage 1a superficial spreading, I was nowhere near melanoma forums. For 5 years, I lived as if I'd never heard the word that so left me boggled and speechless in the surgeon's office… cancer. 

Additionally, many of us have "more to the story" than what you will read in a single post. My eventual "stage 1a" was first removed 10 years prior, in a doc's office, when it was simply something "suspicious looking". The pathology came back clear. The second time it returned, I thought nothing of it, simply because it only "looked weird", because it had followed the scar tissue lines of the initial removal. A punch biopsy showed clear pathology, but my doc wanted me to see a surgeon "just in case" and have it removed. The surgeon's first removal job was based upon the pathology of the punch biopsy. He thought he was removing a potentially pre-cancerous nothing. THAT pathology report showed the melanoma… and not with the clear margins, because he assumed there was plenty of surrounding skin taken from this "potentially pre-cancerous" spot. It was the follow up surgery, 2 weeks later, that then showed we had clear margins. That time, the surgeon had taken everything down to the muscle layer, to ensure he cleared the area. Having spoken to other patients in this rare 2-5% with metastasis following clear margins, I find that many of us had the same issue with an initial cut not getting it all. I have to wonder if those "botched" first surgeries weren't the cause of spread into the bloodstream, before the follow up surgery was done a few weeks to a few months later, to get clear margins. Your shave biopsy showed clean pathology. I believe it was a great idea to follow up with a complete removal anyway. Your doc was on top of things in doing that. When a spot that showed up clean once, then showed up clean with clear margins, you got the double "THANK GOODNESS!" that you can rely on.

Be diligent with sunscreen and staying in the shade. Follow up with your dermatologist once or twice a year. Watch your body and take photos of any "odd spots" you are concerned with…. compare them to photos you take at a later time. Most importantly, go out and live without worry. If this stage IV diagnosis has taught me one thing, it is to control only that which you can……… your response to the situation. Wear your seatbelt in the car, get your annual physical, don't text and drive, don't go into the ghetto wearing high dollar jewelry at 2 am. Be wise with risky choices, but no matter what happens, you will deal with any "bad" (car accident, lightning strike, fall from a curb, frost bite… ANYTHING)  if/when you have to deal with it. You can't control anything or anyone. You can only control your choice of response. 

Even if it were a misdiagnosis, the clear margins would make metastasis a very unusual situation. The most likely reason that you would be reading a bunch of stories like mine/ours (clear margins with a return), is because we are here more regularly. The majority of folks with a low stage diagnosis that was resected with clear margins, are not going to be milling around and posting. It's unfortunate, but those of us here at Stage IV metastasis and posting are in the unlucky 2-5%. I can assure you, that after my initial diagnosis… stage 1a superficial spreading, I was nowhere near melanoma forums. For 5 years, I lived as if I'd never heard the word that so left me boggled and speechless in the surgeon's office… cancer. 

Additionally, many of us have "more to the story" than what you will read in a single post. My eventual "stage 1a" was first removed 10 years prior, in a doc's office, when it was simply something "suspicious looking". The pathology came back clear. The second time it returned, I thought nothing of it, simply because it only "looked weird", because it had followed the scar tissue lines of the initial removal. A punch biopsy showed clear pathology, but my doc wanted me to see a surgeon "just in case" and have it removed. The surgeon's first removal job was based upon the pathology of the punch biopsy. He thought he was removing a potentially pre-cancerous nothing. THAT pathology report showed the melanoma… and not with the clear margins, because he assumed there was plenty of surrounding skin taken from this "potentially pre-cancerous" spot. It was the follow up surgery, 2 weeks later, that then showed we had clear margins. That time, the surgeon had taken everything down to the muscle layer, to ensure he cleared the area. Having spoken to other patients in this rare 2-5% with metastasis following clear margins, I find that many of us had the same issue with an initial cut not getting it all. I have to wonder if those "botched" first surgeries weren't the cause of spread into the bloodstream, before the follow up surgery was done a few weeks to a few months later, to get clear margins. Your shave biopsy showed clean pathology. I believe it was a great idea to follow up with a complete removal anyway. Your doc was on top of things in doing that. When a spot that showed up clean once, then showed up clean with clear margins, you got the double "THANK GOODNESS!" that you can rely on.

Be diligent with sunscreen and staying in the shade. Follow up with your dermatologist once or twice a year. Watch your body and take photos of any "odd spots" you are concerned with…. compare them to photos you take at a later time. Most importantly, go out and live without worry. If this stage IV diagnosis has taught me one thing, it is to control only that which you can……… your response to the situation. Wear your seatbelt in the car, get your annual physical, don't text and drive, don't go into the ghetto wearing high dollar jewelry at 2 am. Be wise with risky choices, but no matter what happens, you will deal with any "bad" (car accident, lightning strike, fall from a curb, frost bite… ANYTHING)  if/when you have to deal with it. You can't control anything or anyone. You can only control your choice of response. 

Even if it were a misdiagnosis, the clear margins would make metastasis a very unusual situation. The most likely reason that you would be reading a bunch of stories like mine/ours (clear margins with a return), is because we are here more regularly. The majority of folks with a low stage diagnosis that was resected with clear margins, are not going to be milling around and posting. It's unfortunate, but those of us here at Stage IV metastasis and posting are in the unlucky 2-5%. I can assure you, that after my initial diagnosis… stage 1a superficial spreading, I was nowhere near melanoma forums. For 5 years, I lived as if I'd never heard the word that so left me boggled and speechless in the surgeon's office… cancer. 

Additionally, many of us have "more to the story" than what you will read in a single post. My eventual "stage 1a" was first removed 10 years prior, in a doc's office, when it was simply something "suspicious looking". The pathology came back clear. The second time it returned, I thought nothing of it, simply because it only "looked weird", because it had followed the scar tissue lines of the initial removal. A punch biopsy showed clear pathology, but my doc wanted me to see a surgeon "just in case" and have it removed. The surgeon's first removal job was based upon the pathology of the punch biopsy. He thought he was removing a potentially pre-cancerous nothing. THAT pathology report showed the melanoma… and not with the clear margins, because he assumed there was plenty of surrounding skin taken from this "potentially pre-cancerous" spot. It was the follow up surgery, 2 weeks later, that then showed we had clear margins. That time, the surgeon had taken everything down to the muscle layer, to ensure he cleared the area. Having spoken to other patients in this rare 2-5% with metastasis following clear margins, I find that many of us had the same issue with an initial cut not getting it all. I have to wonder if those "botched" first surgeries weren't the cause of spread into the bloodstream, before the follow up surgery was done a few weeks to a few months later, to get clear margins. Your shave biopsy showed clean pathology. I believe it was a great idea to follow up with a complete removal anyway. Your doc was on top of things in doing that. When a spot that showed up clean once, then showed up clean with clear margins, you got the double "THANK GOODNESS!" that you can rely on.

Be diligent with sunscreen and staying in the shade. Follow up with your dermatologist once or twice a year. Watch your body and take photos of any "odd spots" you are concerned with…. compare them to photos you take at a later time. Most importantly, go out and live without worry. If this stage IV diagnosis has taught me one thing, it is to control only that which you can……… your response to the situation. Wear your seatbelt in the car, get your annual physical, don't text and drive, don't go into the ghetto wearing high dollar jewelry at 2 am. Be wise with risky choices, but no matter what happens, you will deal with any "bad" (car accident, lightning strike, fall from a curb, frost bite… ANYTHING)  if/when you have to deal with it. You can't control anything or anyone. You can only control your choice of response.