About Melanoma
Source: www.cancerfacts.com
This informattion is for educational purposes only.
Healthy cells in the body normally reproduce themselves in a controlled, orderly manner. Cancer cells reproduce themselves abnormally, dividing uncontrollably and usually more rapidly than healthy cells. They infiltrate and destroy surrounding tissue. They do not die the way normal cells do. As the cancerous cells produce more cells, a mass or a tumor may appear. As the tumor invades the surrounding tissue, it may prevent the healthy tissue from doing its normal job.
There are two kinds of tumors:
Benign tumors are usually not life threatening. In many cases, they do not invade surrounding tissue and can be removed without regrowth.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Post WLE Surgery
It would seem that I should be feeling something to the tune of relief since the re-exision is over. Not necessarily so, not yet anyway...
I mean the tumor should be completely excised now and that is a very good and positive thing. As long as the turmor was in the Radial growth phase and not the Vertical growth phase.
However; I hurt, so therefore it is of constant thought. I have no knowledge of the pathology of things until next Thursday when I go back to see the surgeon, God help me If she calls before then.
I mean the tumor should be completely excised now and that is a very good and positive thing. As long as the turmor was in the Radial growth phase and not the Vertical growth phase.
However; I hurt, so therefore it is of constant thought. I have no knowledge of the pathology of things until next Thursday when I go back to see the surgeon, God help me If she calls before then.
I am very blessed to have my wife Susan; for without her I could not have maintained a positive-peaceful frame of mind, we joked a little and she documented the event with some pictures and video (at my request), it made a big difference and I would suggest this to anyone.
I have posted a before and after picture and video on my facebook page, there other photos however I opted to not post them there. I don't want to scare the little ones. This is what it is. This is here to educate you. Protect yourself; please.
Monday, May 10, 2010
It's a Hard Knock LIfe...
Well, go figure; I have been given a motivator to go with my recent anouncement that I was going to resurrect this blog and start posting again. Cancer...
On April 13, 2010 (a Tuesday, not Friday the)I went to the Dermatologist, because of what I call an "Angry Spot" on my forearm and a large mole that had cropped up on my temple over the last 3 months. (A little history here - I have had 3 Basal Cell Carcinomas removed from this arm over the last 15 years).
So any way... I'm at the Dermo and we do the body once over, talk about a few things and we take the angry spot off, decide that the mole on the right temple is very typical and not a concern, and make a second appointment to remove a mole on the left side of my neck that seemed just a "little" like it had a now darker shade of brown should be excised. Doc used what looked like a polarized Dermoscope that looks deep into the tissue and it appeared to have striations to it or color bands.
Fast Forward: The Biopsy comes back on the Angry spot as Basal Cell, but I fully expected it and being the 4th positive, I am a little complacent about them and we will resect it on the next appoointment when we take the mole.
April 26th, 2010 comes and at this appointment Doc Takes the mole and does a helical stitch so that my wife can remove them in 7-10 days (we will be traveling, on vacation), and rescrapes the Basal cell area.
May 1, 2010: We get home from vacation and there is a voice message (April 28th) from the Derm, polite and non-descript on how the pathology results have come back and to call him at the office so we can decide what to do next. )
"Insert Ominous tone here"
I call the Doc on Monday the 3rd of May (little do I know that this day is called "Melanoma Monday", The first Monday in May, which is Melonoma Awareness day this year. Doc explains that the biopsy has come back as Malignant Melanoma; On the bright side, we caught it early the tumor is shallow: 5.0mm diameter, 0.27mm deep, and non-ulcerated, This will make it Stage 1A and the course of action is to get in to a plastic surgeon for a "WLE" (Wide Local Excision). I make the consult appointment for the following morning at 8:00 AM, where we talk about the procedure and make the surgery date for May 18th at 2:00PM. Needless to say, I am impatiently waiting for the day to arrive...
On April 13, 2010 (a Tuesday, not Friday the)I went to the Dermatologist, because of what I call an "Angry Spot" on my forearm and a large mole that had cropped up on my temple over the last 3 months. (A little history here - I have had 3 Basal Cell Carcinomas removed from this arm over the last 15 years).
So any way... I'm at the Dermo and we do the body once over, talk about a few things and we take the angry spot off, decide that the mole on the right temple is very typical and not a concern, and make a second appointment to remove a mole on the left side of my neck that seemed just a "little" like it had a now darker shade of brown should be excised. Doc used what looked like a polarized Dermoscope that looks deep into the tissue and it appeared to have striations to it or color bands.
Fast Forward: The Biopsy comes back on the Angry spot as Basal Cell, but I fully expected it and being the 4th positive, I am a little complacent about them and we will resect it on the next appoointment when we take the mole.
April 26th, 2010 comes and at this appointment Doc Takes the mole and does a helical stitch so that my wife can remove them in 7-10 days (we will be traveling, on vacation), and rescrapes the Basal cell area.
May 1, 2010: We get home from vacation and there is a voice message (April 28th) from the Derm, polite and non-descript on how the pathology results have come back and to call him at the office so we can decide what to do next. )
"Insert Ominous tone here"
I call the Doc on Monday the 3rd of May (little do I know that this day is called "Melanoma Monday", The first Monday in May, which is Melonoma Awareness day this year. Doc explains that the biopsy has come back as Malignant Melanoma; On the bright side, we caught it early the tumor is shallow: 5.0mm diameter, 0.27mm deep, and non-ulcerated, This will make it Stage 1A and the course of action is to get in to a plastic surgeon for a "WLE" (Wide Local Excision). I make the consult appointment for the following morning at 8:00 AM, where we talk about the procedure and make the surgery date for May 18th at 2:00PM. Needless to say, I am impatiently waiting for the day to arrive...
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