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Getting 3rd excision for Melanoma T1a on scalp, 0.4 depth
Cancer | Last Active: Mar 5, 2022 | Replies (9)Comment receiving replies
@jenniferhunter thank you for your insight, shared experiences and words of encouragement.
I talked to my doctor today and I have slow mohs surgery scheduled now-first surgery is next Friday and the following Wednesday is the second (4th surgery total since the beginning of January).
I’ll have another full body scan before surgery because a different doctor did my initial scan. This is to insure that everything has been found.
Our plan after this is to have a full body scan every three months.
My husband and I started having yearly dermatology body scans two years ago and in December my melanoma was found during my appointment.
There is so much to be thankful for.
Replies to "@jenniferhunter thank you for your insight, shared experiences and words of encouragement. I talked to my..."
Hi @kbo,
I added your discussion to the Cancer group and the Skin Health group, so you can continue to connect with @jenniferhunter and other members living with melanoma like, @lk3xs @donnaohm @dave62 @susu2 @mermaid7272 @grandmar. @herbert1 @birdman518 also had melanoma on the scalp. You can read more of their stories here:
- Stage 1a Melanoma https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/stage-1a-melanoma/
If I calculated your timeline correctly, you just had surgery on Friday and are preparing for another surgery on Wednesday. How are you doing?
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@kbo Thank you for your reply. When you talk about a full body scan, did you mean a dermatology check? I think I should have been more specific. I was talking about scans with imaging with x-rays and MRI with contrast looking for cancer. The surgeon asked for brain and lung imaging because those are common places that melanoma can metastasize. He also recommended an opthalmology eye exam because melanoma can affect the eye and my husband has eye exams every 6 months. That has been fine so far. Dermatology checks every 3 months is a good idea after having skin cancer. The Ken Burns documentary about Mayo had a story about a patient who recovered from melanoma in her eye. It is excellent and I would recommend it if you have not seen it. https://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic/documentary
I benefited too from what I learned about what an abnormal mole looks like when my husband had them. The key was the irregular shaped border and variation in the darkness of the color. The borders were lighter and kind of scalloped looking. I had a similar mole between my toes and got it checked out. It was moderately abnormal and was removed. On my next annual skin check, it was all good. My husband has had maybe a dozen things removed by the dermatologist and will be running out of stuff for them to find... and that's good too! He thought that bump on his hand was a wart and ignored it for about a year and it was growing. It is best to get an expert to decide if it's dangerous because patients shouldn't try to diagnose themselves and that is a big costly mistake if you get it wrong. We were very lucky, and my life would be very different now if his cancer had spread. We had been given an 80% chance that all would turn out OK, and it did. That left 20% of uncertainty of what our future would be together. I am so grateful. He had been covering it with a bandaid and when I saw it had grown, I found a doctor and scheduled his appointment. Lesson learned.
What tips do you have for sun protection that you would like to share? Do you spend a lot of time outside? I'm so glad you have it all scheduled to get the cancer out for good! That must feel so good and give you a lot of mental relief. Will you check back in when you're in the clear and share your insights? I hope you will also stick around and give hope to others by sharing your experiences. I'll be cheering for you all the way!