Margaret Seattle

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret

Sounds like we have a very similar situation, although I've already gone through with an excision and sentinel node biopsy.

My malignant melanoma was a .93 from a shave biopsy, just under a millimeter. When they told me it was malignant back in June, they didn't give me a "stage" but they said it was a 1 on the mitotic index. 

I was literally on my way out the door for a month-long trip to Europe when I got the diagnosis, so I got into surgery the next day for a consult and when I asked if I could still take a trip for a month before dealing with this, she didn't even hesitate and she said "absolutely." She said I was at low risk for it to have spread.

I'm really glad I did because, while it was still worriesome, I came back refreshed and renewed and ready for surgery.

I had my surgery last Monday (7/22). It was a wide excision on my shin (which required plastic surgery because they needed such a big margin and the skin there is so tight) and I also had a sentinel node mapping and biopsy. (Also, I had a Basel Cell Carcinoma on my right shin that she wanted to take off at the same time…it required an excision but not nearly as wide).

I'm happy to say that my margins were clean and my nodes were fine. I'm pretty thankful.

I'm walking with crutches now, until this thing heals, and the my thigh around my node biopsy hurts like the Dickens, but overall, it's a small price to pay.

I hope you are enjoying your trip and you come back relaxed and ready for the next step! More importantly, I hope everything works out for you as well!

Sounds like we have a very similar situation, although I've already gone through with an excision and sentinel node biopsy.

My malignant melanoma was a .93 from a shave biopsy, just under a millimeter. When they told me it was malignant back in June, they didn't give me a "stage" but they said it was a 1 on the mitotic index. 

I was literally on my way out the door for a month-long trip to Europe when I got the diagnosis, so I got into surgery the next day for a consult and when I asked if I could still take a trip for a month before dealing with this, she didn't even hesitate and she said "absolutely." She said I was at low risk for it to have spread.

I'm really glad I did because, while it was still worriesome, I came back refreshed and renewed and ready for surgery.

I had my surgery last Monday (7/22). It was a wide excision on my shin (which required plastic surgery because they needed such a big margin and the skin there is so tight) and I also had a sentinel node mapping and biopsy. (Also, I had a Basel Cell Carcinoma on my right shin that she wanted to take off at the same time…it required an excision but not nearly as wide).

I'm happy to say that my margins were clean and my nodes were fine. I'm pretty thankful.

I'm walking with crutches now, until this thing heals, and the my thigh around my node biopsy hurts like the Dickens, but overall, it's a small price to pay.

I hope you are enjoying your trip and you come back relaxed and ready for the next step! More importantly, I hope everything works out for you as well!

Sounds like we have a very similar situation, although I've already gone through with an excision and sentinel node biopsy.

My malignant melanoma was a .93 from a shave biopsy, just under a millimeter. When they told me it was malignant back in June, they didn't give me a "stage" but they said it was a 1 on the mitotic index. 

I was literally on my way out the door for a month-long trip to Europe when I got the diagnosis, so I got into surgery the next day for a consult and when I asked if I could still take a trip for a month before dealing with this, she didn't even hesitate and she said "absolutely." She said I was at low risk for it to have spread.

I'm really glad I did because, while it was still worriesome, I came back refreshed and renewed and ready for surgery.

I had my surgery last Monday (7/22). It was a wide excision on my shin (which required plastic surgery because they needed such a big margin and the skin there is so tight) and I also had a sentinel node mapping and biopsy. (Also, I had a Basel Cell Carcinoma on my right shin that she wanted to take off at the same time…it required an excision but not nearly as wide).

I'm happy to say that my margins were clean and my nodes were fine. I'm pretty thankful.

I'm walking with crutches now, until this thing heals, and the my thigh around my node biopsy hurts like the Dickens, but overall, it's a small price to pay.

I hope you are enjoying your trip and you come back relaxed and ready for the next step! More importantly, I hope everything works out for you as well!

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret

You're very welcome, Lauren, and I'm really glad to hear I could help in some small way.

I'm so glad your surgery went smoothly and I wish you all the best during your recovery!

I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow! Hurray! But I have a lot of pain in my leg (best way to describe is "zingers" since it feels like my nerve endings are trying to come back) and have had a little bit of swelling on and off. I'm not sure if I'll be off my crutches tomorrow because I've found that any prolonged use of my leg hurts like heck. (I tried making dinner last night for my family for the first time in two weeks and that was not a good idea!) But I feel great, otherwise. and this may sound cheesey, but even during my downtime whenever I found myself clawing the walls, I looked back on photos of our trip…it helped tremendously!

Take good care!

~Margaret