Good News I Suppose

On March 31, 2014, I was advised that my dermatologist received the pathology results for what he was certain was nothing more than a basal cell carcinoma, and it turned out it was a nodular, non-pigmented, amelanotic malignant melanoma.  I was shocked and petrified.  I then received chest x-rays, blood tests, a PET/CT scan, an upper GI endoscopy, and was scheduled to see a melanoma specialist and surgeon three weeks later.  For three weeks I tried to remain positive and visualize the melanoma disintegrating, but I still suffered fear and anxiety quite often.

I finally saw the melanoma specialist yesterday and was advised that based on what he has seen visually and in my test results, he has determined that I have a stage t2a melanoma which does not seem to have metastasized (except perhaps minimally to my lymph nodes since he feels virtually nothing unusual in them), and based on this he feels I have a 90% chance of recovery and survival – WHEW!  I also met with the surgeon and on May 2nd I will first be undergoing a lymphoscintigraphy and then a LEFT FOREARM MELANOMA WIDE LOCAL REEXCISION and LEFT AXILLARY OR EPITROCHLEAR BASIN SELECTIVE SENTINEL LYMPH NODE DISSECTION.  In other words they will be chopping out what is left of the melanoma and the area all around it, and removing any lymph nodes where some of the cancer cells may have metastasized to based on the lymphoscintigraphy results. The specialist said that after they get the results from the surgery they will determine if any additional treatment is required. 

I guess I should consider myself lucky since the area where the melanoma is has looked weird for about a year, but I didn't get it checked out until it popped up like a blister that wouldn't go away for about five months and just seemed to be getting bigger. I can't help but think this thing has been evolving and growing for over a year, but thanks to my slow metabolism and high immune system it didn't take off, metastasize, and destroy me.  I am still going to keep my fingers crossed that everything will be fine and I will recover and be able to move on, even though I will continue to need testing done for a while to make sure it is gone and doesn't pop up again in the same place or somewhere else that they could not find. 

I now rarely let myself get exposed to the sun, I always wear sunsceens anywhere on my skin that may come in contact with the sun, and if I go out into the sun I wear a big hat.  I am going to miss nude sunbathing in my private backyard, sunbathing with a swimsuit on at the beach, swimming, boogie boarding, gardening, and all of the things I have loved doing that exposed me to UV rays that I now realize can end up killing you.  I guess this is another lesson I have learned the hard way.