@paganlinq1
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- December 7, 2019 at 2:08 am
While one should never say never…mets to the opposite side of the body…from the chest area to the groin…without anything in between…would be most unusual.I know where you’re coming from…diagnosed with Stage III Melanoma…51 years ago…I went nuts every time I found a new bump, sore or freckle I hadn’t seen before…for about five years! Then I figured out that if I were going to worry about dying…every day of my life…I might as well be dead…because I wasn’t living!
Chances are that a swollen lymph node, in your groin, is from some kind of infection in that area…especially since you appear to be (I’m assuming from your post) a woman…who are more prone to infections in this area than men are It definitely needs to be investigated…obviously…but I would be surprised if it were related to the cancer.
Don’t know why…but this kind of thing, during the holidays, always seems particularly upsetting! I know…I was diagnosed in mid-December!
Let us know what’s going on…and I’ll remember you in my prayers.
God Bless!
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- December 6, 2019 at 2:51 pm
In 1968 I had a Right Radical Neck Dissection at the Medical College of Virginia (now VCU Medical Center) by Dr. Walter Lawrence III, with a post-op diagnosis of Stage III Melanoma.I was lucky in that Dr. Lawrence had come down from Sloan-Kettering the previous year, bringing a new Radical Neck Dissection procedure, developed by himself and others, at Sloan-Kettering. This new procedure greatly reduced the horrible disfiguration once associated with older methods of neck dissection.
In a prolonged procedure, as Neck Dissections are (mine was over 9 hours) the surgical field is often bloody, nerves are often difficult to identify, and are frequently cut.
My 2nd Facial Nerve was accidentally cut, resulting in a permanent sagging of the face on the affected side. A procedure called a ‘sling,’ was offered (but declined) that can alleviate this problem, to some extent.
Unfortunately, at 51 years post-op, I still have a limited Range-of-Motion of the arm/shoulder on the affected side. This procedure usually requires the intentional sacrifice of the nerve that controls the trapezius muscle, resulting in drooping of the shoulder and difficulty in raising the arm over head.
But these side effects are certainly offset by being cancer free!
Being in health care for 40 years, I frequently came in contact with cancer patients, and my advice to them was always the same…If you spend every waking minute of your life worrying about dying…you may as well be dead….because you aren’t really living!
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