› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › New worries after melanoma 2 years ago
- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 9 months ago by
casagrayson.
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- September 16, 2019 at 7:38 pm
Obligatory new to the forum, here’s my backstory. I had a dark, flat mole on my R upper back. I didn’t notice changes because of location, but 3 years ago my husband said I should get it looked at. Well, I wasn’t worried, we had a pretty big vacation coming up and I put it off. About 6 months after he first mentioned it I went to a dermatologist. The PA said she wasn’t concerned, but did a shave just to be sure. Two weeks later I got a call while I was at work and I went ahead and answered it because I was sure they’d tell me it was benign, no big deal, move on with my day. Turns out it was melanoma–obviously, since I’m here. They got me in right away and did an in office removal. Caught it early (stage 1, not sure about anything else), margins clear, no need to biopsy lymph nodes. It healed very nicely and the scar is barely noticeable. I’m down to going every 6 months for either a full body or upper body exam, it alternates. Here’s my current issue. For 3 months, my left ovary has been hurting. Sometimes intense pain, sometimes it’s just noticeable but doesn’t really bother me. I can’t tie it to any menstrual symptoms. I feel it almost every day, but some days if I’m really busy I don’t notice it, and probably 3-5 days a week are pretty painful. There’s also bloating, feeling full, heartburn/indigestion, but those aren’t daily. Loss of appetite but I think that’s stress. After a month I went to my GYN, she did a pelvic and thought she felt something, but ‘the good news is it’s soft, not hard’. US was negative and she recommended a laparoscopy. I asked if we could do a CT first because I’m scared of general anesthesia and a part of me thinks that I’m silly so I shouldn’t have surgery for nothing. CT was negative. I decided to wait another month since I had a physical scheduled with my PCP and get his opinion. Work has been stressful and short staffed, so I thought it was just showing up as pain in my lower left abdomen in a very specific spot. He said that doesn’t happen, get the procedure. So I’m scheduled next Tuesday, 9/24, for a diagnostic laparoscopy. Of course I’ve been all over the internet and my symptoms most closely line up with ovarian cancer. Oh yeah, my periods are lighter than they used to be just in this time period, and last about 48 hours which is half of what they were. Anyway I’m scared because I’ve never had general anesthesia and there is a chance that I won’t wake up. Or that it will be ovarian cancer and I’ll wake up to having my insides gone. And what kind of problems that could lead to. I’m a mess…my friends keep telling me that it’s probably nothing, but they can’t know that. My mom and my husband think it’s not normal to have the pain but don’t know what it could be–or they’re not telling me they think it’s cancer too. I’ve looked at symptoms, statistics, chances of a CT missing cancer–turns out less than half a cm goes unnoticed. Basically I have support but they’re all positive, which is great. But the reality is it could be very bad. Or my anxiety wins this round and my new normal is pain. This is longer than I intended, if you made it thank you for reading. I don’t even know what I’m looking for. I just want to tell someone that I’m scared. My mind makes it hard. But I’m probably fine.
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- September 17, 2019 at 2:03 am
It is very usual to have surgery at stage 1. Are you sure that you were only stage 1? If you were really stage 1 and had surgery in my opinion I would find a new oncologist. Also way to many body scans for a stage 1 patient. Think radiation ;-( I think you should find a good ovarian cancer specialist and do not do chemo as it only works for three types of cancer and ovarian cancer is not one of them.
Stress is one of the leading cause of cancer do what you can to reduce it.Best wishes,
Gene -
- September 18, 2019 at 4:13 am
Greenducky,Take a big, deep breath. First let’s talk about your melanoma. You had a Stage 1 lesion, and had a wide local excision with clear margins. It wasn’t deep enough to consider doing a lymph node biopsy. All of this means that, most likely, you will never have to deal with melanoma again. You caught it early, took care of it, and it’s over. IF you happened to progress to Stage 4 (melanoma metastasis to a distant organ) … an *extremely* low possibility … I don’t think the ovary would be the logical location.. More likely would be a lesion in the lung. For the next week, find some things that you can do that make you happy and keep you relaxed. Binge watch some romantic comedies, pamper yourself with a pedicure or massage, go out for diner with friends. Stay off the medical sites on the internet. Do come back and let us know what you find out, though! We want to hear the good news that all is well.
Now, about your current situation. The probability of this being ovarian cancer is also very, very low. You might have a small ovarian cyst, or a fibroid tumor. Do yourself a favor, and don’t borrow trouble; have the laparoscopy and find out what you are dealing with before you let anxiety take over.
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