Lump in wle incision three years post op

Hi Mandy,

I had a mole removed 10 years ago which came back as melanoma.  I had a re-removal with clear margins.  I went 10 years with nothing.  I went to all my follow up appointments and although I had a few suspicious moles removed they came back benign.  Then I had subq nodules pop up.  I ended up with 7 in a month.  This was stage IV metastatic melanoma.  A CT scan showed I was riddled with tumors.  The primary is unknown.  I had to fight to get a biopsy so I'm glad your dermatologist is working with you.  Hopefully your lumps are nothing serious.  Best wishes to you.

Jennifer

Hi Mandy,

Here's what happened with me.

I was diagnosed in January 2013. Had an excision and sentinel lymph node biopsy in February of that year. One sentinel node was positive, so that was followed by lymph node dissection that March. All the lymph nodes came back negative.

I was good for a little over a year. Then in summer 2014 I noticed a couple of lumps on my back near the incision scar. They were under the skin. My surgeon sent me for a PET scan and they came back positive. So in September 2014 I had another excision. Almost immediately after that excision new spots began to appear. The lumps that were removed in the second excision were under the skin with no visible color. But the ones that appeared after the operation were dark bluish purple.

I did ipi. That stopped the progression, but within a couple of months afterward new spots began to appear. Keytruda had been approved a few months before and I started on that in July 2015. It worked, and the visible spots, as well as others on my right lung, began to melt away. Everything looked good.

But at some point last fall, after over a year on Keytruda, I began to have a feeling that it had stopped working. I began to believe that because I had stopped itching. I had had a mild, slightly itchy rash since I started with Keytruda, but it eventually disappeared. A CT scan in December revealed a growing spot on the hilum of my right lung that my oncologist didn't think was anything. She sent me for another PET to confirm, and the results revealed that the spots on my skin were indeed dead, and the spots in my lung were gone. But two lymph nodes in my chest were positive.

The original plan was radiation, followed by more Keytruda. But I went for a consult with Dr. Sharfman at Johns Hopkins. I always turned to him whenever my condition changed. And he was able to get me into a trial of a new immunotherapy, which I have so far received two infusions.

That's my experience, but remember, everybody is different. I'm rooting for you. Maybe it will turn out to be nothing. But it's good that you are getting it checked out sooner rather than later.

My best wishes for a good result!

-Bill

Hi Mandy,

My wifes situation is almost identical to yours. She had a big pink bump on the back of her left calf that ulcerated and her PCP recommended having it removed. Unfortunately it came back positive for Melanoma. Stage IIb at the time. Sentinel Node biopsy came back negative. No treatment was recommended at that time.

She had several Upper Body CT scans done over the next 18 months and then she felt a lump under her right forearm that when removed was also positive for melanoma. Her Oncologist in Boston recommended Interferon which she did for almost a year. They gave her a full body PET/CT scan at the conclusion of her Interferon that revealed a small tumor in her calf deep enough that she couldnt feel it when checking her leg. They removed it and one or two more, (I lose count) that always had clear margins, and yet they would inevitably find another tumor 10-18 months after the previous surgery.  

She took part in a clinical trial last year that we had high hopes for, but in March her Doctors found yet another tumor in her calf. This time the Surgeon could not get a "clear" margin and they have informed her that they do not want to cut into her leg anymore. They recommended Radiation Therapy that she just recently completed. The radiation was pretty tough, but we are hoping it will finally eradicate the Melanoma she has in her calf. If not she will have to have some sort of systemic treatment going forward. If her next scan at the end of July is clean I believe she will go back to being "monitored."

Its been ten years since she was first diagnosed and the Melanoma landscape has changed dramatically with new treatments being introduced all the time, and new ones in development. Stay positive and I hope everything works out ok. 

Best Wishes,

Cody

Hi Mandy,

The nodule you describe may well be melanoma therefore, have it biopsied, find out what your are dealing with, and go from there.  On personal note…my kids were 10 and 12 when I was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2003 at Stage 3b (melanoma positive skin lesion on my back and one positive node to my right axillae).  There was no treatment (other than interferon, which has been proven to have no effect) so I had no other treatment.  Another skin lesion to my left arm was removed and melanoma positive in 2007…but there were no positive nodes. No additional treatment options were available – so again – no other treatment.  I did develop lung and brain mets in 2010.  By then trials were underway with ipi and nivo. I entered a nivo trial after surgery and radiation, took it for 2 1/2 years…remain NED, with my last treatment in June of 2013 and my kids are now amazing adults on their own!!  (Just thought you might like to hear what postive results can happen even IF shit hits the fan!!!)

BUT….to your main question.  No…my melanoma has never recurred at any scar….though that is certainly not uncommon and needs to be monitored.  However, I DID have little hardish nodules develop at the end of my scar to my left arm.  They were duly biopsied and found to be neuromas….not malignant….just little nodules that developed where nerves were cut.  They have even regrown since.  

So….you can't know what is in there until you take it out and test it.  However, there is hope – in lots of ways.  Yours, celeste