melanoma update

How ...

by donr - 2018-12-04 22:27:29

...Big was it & exactly where?  how deeply did he have to go?  That has a lot of bearing on how bad or good the lesion was.  No Bovie tells me it wasn't very deep & didn't get into a lot of blood supply - no little vessels to cauterize.  Was it CEARLY, before being excised, diagnosed as a melanoma?  Actually, you will not have a diagnosis until biopsy.  The surgeon cannot submit a bill to insurance till the biopsy comes back.  Then, according to Medicare protocol, (Normal for most ins co's) If it comes back benign, they cannot charge for the removal, only sewing you up! Try that for screwy logic! 

BTW:  Melanoma is survivable - I know a woman who is now a 31 (THIRTY ONE) YEAR SURVIVOR! 

Don't know what yours looked like, but every jet black, shiny, wierd shape on the skin is not a melanoma.  I had two of them that turned out to be Basal cell types.  I also watched Daughter rremove a very large lump from a patient's left jaw line - he already had a biopsy confirmed melanoma removed from his back - Lots of emotional sweat awaiting the rsults - turned out to be a benign cyst.

Let us know how this all washes out!

Donr

melanoma

by capecod - 2018-12-04 23:42:50

hi don

i had a biopsy a month ago and the mole was diagnosed as a stage 1 malignant melanoma. my dermatologist then sent me to a surgeon, hence, all the scare around using cautery with defibrillator.  it was about .5 mm thick so he was comfortable with wide excision using scalpel.   now the wait for pathology report.  

What about its ....

by donr - 2018-12-05 01:13:00

...DIMENSIONS?  1/2 mm (that's 1/50 of an inch - about like a piece of thin cardboard like on a cereal box) thick is a very thin lesion -barely penetrates the skin, definitely does not get below the subcutaneous fat at all - except if it were on the shinbone! (Even Twiggy  had more than a quarter inch of SC fat on her upper chest.)

What made your dermatologist think it was a melanoma?  Must have really looked suspicious & been exaggerated.

At this point, sounds like you are on pretty decent ground & should have no problems.  That's all good news.

Donr

CC

by Grateful Heart - 2018-12-05 23:14:56

Glad it went easier than you thought CC.

Hope Don is right.

Grateful Heart

america

by jessie - 2018-12-07 01:07:44

just wanted to say after watching president bush sr. funeral just how impreseed i felt at all that he was. he was normal if anybody could be normal doing that job. he was an inspiration to all and he seemed a very happy man and happy as a husband father and leader. he had a few very good friends. it was hard to watch his grown children say goodbye and his grandchildren who attended. he was well loved by many. how wonderful was that? in this crazy world nice to see pretty much normal and the love of a family. just thought i would say what i felt today. jessie