› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Just diagnosed, Melanoma .7mm, Questions for Everyone?
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 1 month ago by
Bubbles.
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- April 8, 2019 at 4:46 pm
Hello,
So I'm new to the website and the board. I was diagnosed last week with melanoma after my biopsy came back. I have an appointment with a surgeon next week. I have some questions and I'm hoping someone can answer them. I noticed for awhile (probably a month or more) before my dermatologist appointment that I have been bruising a lot more lately. I'm really pale and I do bruise easy. But it'll be from something like my husband taking my wrist to pull me out of the way of a crowd. Or I wake up with bruises when nothing has happened. I'm worried that it could mean that this fast growing melanoma could be worse then what they are thinking it is. Does anyone know about this?
Side note, my dermatologist has been seeing me for a few years and took a spot off of my shoulder 2 years ago that was showing signs, but was taken off before it turned into something bad. This new spot turned from nothing to something in less than 9 months. I'm super worried and I don't want to worry my husband more than he already is.
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- April 8, 2019 at 6:50 pm
Be sure to tell the dermatologist-surgeon-and oncologist about your bruises, as these could be caused by subcutaneous tumors. Not trying to scare you, but unusual bruising followed by a lump under the bruise was my son’s first symptom of recurrence 22 months after initial Stage IIA diagnosis.
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- April 9, 2019 at 2:13 am
What are subcutaneous tumors? There aren’t any bumps under the bruises. And the bruises are nowhere near where the melanoma is. But I’m still just so scared and worried.
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- April 9, 2019 at 3:14 am
Any other diagnosis unrelated to the melanoma? Have you had blood work done lately? How are your platelets? Have you noticed any petechia (tiny red dots) on your body anywhere?
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- April 9, 2019 at 4:43 am
I bruise easily too and sometimes wake up with bruises on my arms, but I discovered that I squeeze myself during the night to the point where I bruise sometimes (kind of like grinding my teeth). It's possible that you just may need some additional iron, which helps prevent bruising.I also get the tiny red dots mentioned by the above poster. It's basically weak blood vessels, which can be hereditary or caused by a vitamin deficiecy. In my case, the bruising has absolutely no relation to the melanoma.
I had a .03 mm melanoma and have had a couple of others biopsied and have had no issues since having that bugger taken out almost a couple of years ago. The only problem was that it was in the center front of my (somewhat fat) thigh, so healing and not moving it to much was an issue. I've had to build that muscle back up because I couldn't exercise for almost three months because of the spot it's in.
A 0.7 mm melanoma (barring other factors, which I can't see because you didn't post your path report) is generally not something to worry about too much because it's not too deep. 95 – 98% of the time, you get it removed with wide margins (big scar) and go for follow ups, and that's it. It's hard not to worry, but you just have to assume nothing is wrong until your next appointment unless something new pops up quickly and doesn't go away in a couple of weeks or something changes a fair amount. I know, it can be nerve wracking, but most likely it will be just fine.
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- April 9, 2019 at 11:25 am
I don't have my complete pathology report yet. I'm supposed to get it when I see the surgeon next week. Here is what is on my online medical record.
The patient has a known history of skin cancer: Atypia (CMN with Mod-Sev. Atypia of the Left Post. Shoulder, Excised on 1/19/17.). There is a reported history of cryosurgery for ISK. The patient reports extensive routine sun exposure and The patient reports a history of blistering sunburns (Grew up in Charleston, SC.). Area(s) of interest: complete body. The patient has new area(s) of concern: Left Upper Medial lower leg (Getting darker, 6mos.) Right lateral neck (raised, getting bigger, >2 yrs).
The notes I wrote down from the phone call with my doctor are. Melanoma .7mm. Need to have a wide excision and senitel lymph node biopsy. I did notice when I was looking through my chart that they did a shave biopsy, and through my reading about this online, a shave biopsy isn't the best way to get a biopsy. Is this true?
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- April 9, 2019 at 12:34 pm
It depends on if the path report states that the shave was not deep enough. Sometimes with shave biopsy they don't go deep enough and leave part of the tumor behind and then remove it when they do the WLE, however do to the tumor having being cut it is hard to know the accurate depth of original tumor which can make staging more difficult. If they have you set up for SLNB then after it is complete and another pathology report is done on that tissue you will have a more accurate assessment of your staging situation. In the future ask for a punch biopsy over shave!!! Best Wishes!!!Ed
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- April 9, 2019 at 4:16 pm
I'll be totally honest, I had no idea before this that there were different types of biopsies. And I didn't even realize at the time that they were doing a shave biopsy.
So if they did a shave biopsy, then the tumor could actually be deeper than what they told me? What is WLE?
I really do apologize. I am very new to this and looking stuff up on the internet doesn't help. It just makes me even more scared.
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- April 9, 2019 at 4:44 pm
WLE stands for wide local excision, where the surgeon takes some extra skin off around original tumour site!!! It is done after Sentinal node biopsy procedure while patient is still on the operation table. Again without path report there is no way to give you accurate advice!!!
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- April 9, 2019 at 5:24 pm
This is just so frustrating. I'm always the person that handles all of the medical stuff for my family. Husband has diabetes, 19 year old with aspergers, and twin 11 year olds with autism and ADHD. So I know my way around a medical office. And normally I would have a report of whatever needs to be done or whatever. But the dermatologist just called me on the phone with the results and gave me an appointment time with the surgeon. And my online record for the dermatologist has not been updated to show exactly what the results are. Hopefully I'll find out more from the surgeon. But I hate being in the dark and not knowing everything. How can I properly plan and prepare if I don't have all of the information??? 🙁
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- April 9, 2019 at 6:38 pm
This aim at melanoma video that features Dr. Sabel will help to give you the big picture of SLNB and WLE procedures if necessary and the big picture for you. Hard to know what next steps are without knowing path report but assuming that next step is sentinel node removal then this video will help you prepare.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_T186r5gIE
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- April 9, 2019 at 11:28 pm
You will get through this, unicorn. It is not fun. In fact, melanoma sucks great big green hairy stinky wizard balls. I put together this 'glossary' of terms a bit ago that you might find helpful:
Hope that helps. I wish you my best. Celeste
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