› Forums › General Melanoma Community › For anyone who has had a lesion in recurrence
- This topic has 18 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 1 month ago by
Cee.
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- March 30, 2015 at 3:37 am
When you have a recurrence in the form of a bump under the skin, is it something that popped up very quickly or something that began very innocently enough that you watched it until you felt sure it was something to be concerned about? Did it begin as a red circle and slowly become a bump beneath the skin and change colour?
If it was something that started out slowly, how long before it was at a stage where you were definitely concerned enough to see a doctor about it?
Thank you .
Cathy
Stage 3a
- Replies
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- March 30, 2015 at 1:34 pm
My recurrences (I've had over 30 in the area of the original WLE on left calf) have never been "bumps" just pigmentation that looked suspicious. All were (continue) to be biopsied 5 years after the WLE and still continue to come back postiive for Mel. They have decreased in number over the years. The first recurrences started about 2 months post-surgery.
Hope that helps some. Get it looked at.
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- March 30, 2015 at 1:34 pm
My recurrences (I've had over 30 in the area of the original WLE on left calf) have never been "bumps" just pigmentation that looked suspicious. All were (continue) to be biopsied 5 years after the WLE and still continue to come back postiive for Mel. They have decreased in number over the years. The first recurrences started about 2 months post-surgery.
Hope that helps some. Get it looked at.
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- March 30, 2015 at 1:34 pm
My recurrences (I've had over 30 in the area of the original WLE on left calf) have never been "bumps" just pigmentation that looked suspicious. All were (continue) to be biopsied 5 years after the WLE and still continue to come back postiive for Mel. They have decreased in number over the years. The first recurrences started about 2 months post-surgery.
Hope that helps some. Get it looked at.
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- March 30, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Hi Cathy,
I've had 2 recurrences, now. All have them have been near my WLE scars. All of them started out as small (sometimes rice grain sized) lumps in.under my skin. Some of them were as big as grapes. All of them grew. Some of them grew quickly! One of them (the oldest?) started to grow up from my skin and formed a black nodule. Some of them have been red/pinkish.
In my first recurrence, I waited the longest. I was living in a mosquitoes area, and I thought a bite had gotten infected. When it didn't go away and grew, I knew something was very wrong and went back to my Dr.
If you're concerned about it, go see your Dr. if for no other reason than peace of mind.
Hoping that this thing you are worried about is only an oddment, or funk.
Blessings,
Julie
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- March 30, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Thank you Julie. I appreciate your having shared your experience.
At this point it is just a red patch above my right breast and seems slightly raised it's about 2 1/2 ins. in diameter; it's been there a few weeks now. That as well as an arm that has been troubling me since early January when I went to the doctor but it was thought to be a sore muscle but at this point the pain has worsened and often extends the length of my arm and I lose strength in my hand! Here we only receive scans once symptoms present themselves and there is suspicion of a recurrence, no further scans after completing treatment. It's a tough go doing a wait and see because a recurrence is the first thought when you see or feel anything out of the norm.
I am three years post LND; second surgery and almost two years post completion of one year of Interferon.
I think I will see my doctor this week.
Thank you again and take care.
Cathy 🙂
Stage 3a
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- March 30, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Thank you Julie. I appreciate your having shared your experience.
At this point it is just a red patch above my right breast and seems slightly raised it's about 2 1/2 ins. in diameter; it's been there a few weeks now. That as well as an arm that has been troubling me since early January when I went to the doctor but it was thought to be a sore muscle but at this point the pain has worsened and often extends the length of my arm and I lose strength in my hand! Here we only receive scans once symptoms present themselves and there is suspicion of a recurrence, no further scans after completing treatment. It's a tough go doing a wait and see because a recurrence is the first thought when you see or feel anything out of the norm.
I am three years post LND; second surgery and almost two years post completion of one year of Interferon.
I think I will see my doctor this week.
Thank you again and take care.
Cathy 🙂
Stage 3a
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- March 30, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Thank you Julie. I appreciate your having shared your experience.
At this point it is just a red patch above my right breast and seems slightly raised it's about 2 1/2 ins. in diameter; it's been there a few weeks now. That as well as an arm that has been troubling me since early January when I went to the doctor but it was thought to be a sore muscle but at this point the pain has worsened and often extends the length of my arm and I lose strength in my hand! Here we only receive scans once symptoms present themselves and there is suspicion of a recurrence, no further scans after completing treatment. It's a tough go doing a wait and see because a recurrence is the first thought when you see or feel anything out of the norm.
I am three years post LND; second surgery and almost two years post completion of one year of Interferon.
I think I will see my doctor this week.
Thank you again and take care.
Cathy 🙂
Stage 3a
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- March 30, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Hi Cathy,
I've had 2 recurrences, now. All have them have been near my WLE scars. All of them started out as small (sometimes rice grain sized) lumps in.under my skin. Some of them were as big as grapes. All of them grew. Some of them grew quickly! One of them (the oldest?) started to grow up from my skin and formed a black nodule. Some of them have been red/pinkish.
In my first recurrence, I waited the longest. I was living in a mosquitoes area, and I thought a bite had gotten infected. When it didn't go away and grew, I knew something was very wrong and went back to my Dr.
If you're concerned about it, go see your Dr. if for no other reason than peace of mind.
Hoping that this thing you are worried about is only an oddment, or funk.
Blessings,
Julie
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- March 30, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Hi Cathy,
I've had 2 recurrences, now. All have them have been near my WLE scars. All of them started out as small (sometimes rice grain sized) lumps in.under my skin. Some of them were as big as grapes. All of them grew. Some of them grew quickly! One of them (the oldest?) started to grow up from my skin and formed a black nodule. Some of them have been red/pinkish.
In my first recurrence, I waited the longest. I was living in a mosquitoes area, and I thought a bite had gotten infected. When it didn't go away and grew, I knew something was very wrong and went back to my Dr.
If you're concerned about it, go see your Dr. if for no other reason than peace of mind.
Hoping that this thing you are worried about is only an oddment, or funk.
Blessings,
Julie
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- March 31, 2015 at 12:32 am
Hi Cathy, I had my first melanoma in 06, it was in my back, towards center left. They did a WLE, and sentinel node biopsies under both arms. This fall, I had been working out nearly every day (lost nearly 40 lbs last year!) and an area between my WLE scar and the biopsy scar under my left arm started to swell, and get painful. My local onc said it could be an abscess and ordered antibiotics but also a ct. The meds kicked in almost right away, and the swelling and pain reduced significantly by the time I got in for the ct less than a week later. The tech said he could see the lump in my WLE scar, but I told him that lump is always there and the one I was feeling was to the left of the WLE scar. I got home that night only to see he had placed the marker on my scar. My surgeon looked at the ct and said there was nothing there. She felt my back a bit and said she couldn’t feel anything. I just said I felt a sort of “tightness” in my back, near my scar. Two weeks later, it swelled up again. Back to my local onc, who’s NP saw me that day. She definitely felt something, said it could be a benign lipoma, but mine was getting irritated and infected because it was right on my bra line, and those constrictive sports bras were irritating it. More antibiotics but this time an ultrasound. This tech got some clear pictures of the lump, which was pretty deep. Back to the surgeon after the holidays, she did a core needle biopsy in her office, three days later she calls and says its melanoma again. That’s when my local onc referred me to Johns Hopkins, knowing I could get better treatment there with a melanoma specialist. Best move I’ve made yet, as I just found out today that one of my mets is gone, another is shrinking, and the others are stable… After only one treatment!My advice to you is to be your own advocate. I had to be adamant that something was definitely wrong and that my body doesn’t just swell and get painfully red with no good reason. I knew something was there! I wish you the best of luck!!!
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- March 31, 2015 at 12:32 am
Hi Cathy, I had my first melanoma in 06, it was in my back, towards center left. They did a WLE, and sentinel node biopsies under both arms. This fall, I had been working out nearly every day (lost nearly 40 lbs last year!) and an area between my WLE scar and the biopsy scar under my left arm started to swell, and get painful. My local onc said it could be an abscess and ordered antibiotics but also a ct. The meds kicked in almost right away, and the swelling and pain reduced significantly by the time I got in for the ct less than a week later. The tech said he could see the lump in my WLE scar, but I told him that lump is always there and the one I was feeling was to the left of the WLE scar. I got home that night only to see he had placed the marker on my scar. My surgeon looked at the ct and said there was nothing there. She felt my back a bit and said she couldn’t feel anything. I just said I felt a sort of “tightness” in my back, near my scar. Two weeks later, it swelled up again. Back to my local onc, who’s NP saw me that day. She definitely felt something, said it could be a benign lipoma, but mine was getting irritated and infected because it was right on my bra line, and those constrictive sports bras were irritating it. More antibiotics but this time an ultrasound. This tech got some clear pictures of the lump, which was pretty deep. Back to the surgeon after the holidays, she did a core needle biopsy in her office, three days later she calls and says its melanoma again. That’s when my local onc referred me to Johns Hopkins, knowing I could get better treatment there with a melanoma specialist. Best move I’ve made yet, as I just found out today that one of my mets is gone, another is shrinking, and the others are stable… After only one treatment!My advice to you is to be your own advocate. I had to be adamant that something was definitely wrong and that my body doesn’t just swell and get painfully red with no good reason. I knew something was there! I wish you the best of luck!!!
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- March 31, 2015 at 1:00 pm
Eileen thank you for sharing! My melanoma was in a similar place on my back and I too had sentinel node biopsies under both arms with a positive node on the right. I try to keep going forward and let life rule not the melanoma, then there is this or that which causes me some measure of alarm.
You have told me exactly what I tell others, to be your own best advocate and I remind myself regardless of what I think others think it's what allows me to feel better and more positive in going forward with life!
Thank you and take care. 🙂
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- March 31, 2015 at 1:00 pm
Eileen thank you for sharing! My melanoma was in a similar place on my back and I too had sentinel node biopsies under both arms with a positive node on the right. I try to keep going forward and let life rule not the melanoma, then there is this or that which causes me some measure of alarm.
You have told me exactly what I tell others, to be your own best advocate and I remind myself regardless of what I think others think it's what allows me to feel better and more positive in going forward with life!
Thank you and take care. 🙂
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- March 31, 2015 at 1:00 pm
Eileen thank you for sharing! My melanoma was in a similar place on my back and I too had sentinel node biopsies under both arms with a positive node on the right. I try to keep going forward and let life rule not the melanoma, then there is this or that which causes me some measure of alarm.
You have told me exactly what I tell others, to be your own best advocate and I remind myself regardless of what I think others think it's what allows me to feel better and more positive in going forward with life!
Thank you and take care. 🙂
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- March 31, 2015 at 12:32 am
Hi Cathy, I had my first melanoma in 06, it was in my back, towards center left. They did a WLE, and sentinel node biopsies under both arms. This fall, I had been working out nearly every day (lost nearly 40 lbs last year!) and an area between my WLE scar and the biopsy scar under my left arm started to swell, and get painful. My local onc said it could be an abscess and ordered antibiotics but also a ct. The meds kicked in almost right away, and the swelling and pain reduced significantly by the time I got in for the ct less than a week later. The tech said he could see the lump in my WLE scar, but I told him that lump is always there and the one I was feeling was to the left of the WLE scar. I got home that night only to see he had placed the marker on my scar. My surgeon looked at the ct and said there was nothing there. She felt my back a bit and said she couldn’t feel anything. I just said I felt a sort of “tightness” in my back, near my scar. Two weeks later, it swelled up again. Back to my local onc, who’s NP saw me that day. She definitely felt something, said it could be a benign lipoma, but mine was getting irritated and infected because it was right on my bra line, and those constrictive sports bras were irritating it. More antibiotics but this time an ultrasound. This tech got some clear pictures of the lump, which was pretty deep. Back to the surgeon after the holidays, she did a core needle biopsy in her office, three days later she calls and says its melanoma again. That’s when my local onc referred me to Johns Hopkins, knowing I could get better treatment there with a melanoma specialist. Best move I’ve made yet, as I just found out today that one of my mets is gone, another is shrinking, and the others are stable… After only one treatment!My advice to you is to be your own advocate. I had to be adamant that something was definitely wrong and that my body doesn’t just swell and get painfully red with no good reason. I knew something was there! I wish you the best of luck!!!
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