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Meet others living with Head & Neck Cancer: Introduce yourself

Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Sep 21 5:27pm | Replies (538)
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@lauralb

Thank you for your thoughts. I've been hounding everyone and finally determined that the mohs oncologists affiliated with the dermatology entity is in the network, that she is pretty much approved for a consultation (she hasn't even had that...) and all they have to do is make an appointment for a consultation. But it seems they prefer to just do the biopsy, tell her she has melanoma and then not answer phone calls or do anything. It took another hour and twenty minutes on the phone this morning just to determine that setting the appointment is all that has to be done. I have heard nothing. So today, I will have to tell my mom that we are still in limbo. She's a strong woman and can handle most any news - but she has a real hard time being left in the dark. So do I for that matter. I'll be calling the mohs folks again now...

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Replies to "Thank you for your thoughts. I've been hounding everyone and finally determined that the mohs oncologists..."
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jul 18 11:11am

Hi Laura, any update? Has your mom been scheduled for an appointment in the meantime? How is she doing?

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sepdvm | Jul 22 2:36pm

@ lauralb, I understand the frustration of waiting for response from a physician's office. You are smart to keep after them. I recently took my 97 year old aunt for a Moh's procedure for a Squamous Cell Carcinoma on top of her head. She had a biopsy in February and was offered surgery or a topical treatment. She chose the one and done surgery. They scheduled her in late May and it wasn't really a typical Moh's as he initially took a full thickness of scalp/skin and then looked microscopically. It was clear so that left her with a 2.5x 3 cm open lesion, since you cannot close a big round lesion like that without a graft. Healing by second intention with it granulating in and shrinking has been a long process as they explained, but it is now 2 months later and about a cm in diameter. Daily treatment to clean the wound and keep it moist with a layer of vaseline and a light layer of vaseline impregnated gauze has given her greasy hair but it has been relatively painless. She was finally able to have her hair washed and water on the wound after about 10 days due to discomfort, tho the nurse had said the next day would be fine. It will be completely healed in another 2 weeks at this rate, and for a 97 year old I think that is pretty good.
I know Melanoma is a more serious cancer and I don't know your Mom's age, but just wanted to share our recent experience. Specialists are so overwhelmed with patient load that they cannot see everyone as quickly as they want to, but perhaps this being a melanoma they might schedule her sooner. Keep after them or get a copy of the biopsy and find another Moh's surgeon. Any luck so far?

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