Yay. Those mother-puppies are out.
Two weeks after having a melanoma tumor removed, the stitches were more irritating than functional. Apparently I took care of them well, though, and the incision is healing nicely. My wrist is much more comfortable with them gone. I've put a Tough Pad patch on it to promote further healing and cover up the worst of the gore -- not because I care what it looks like but because it's still a little startling for others to look at.
Apparently there was a lot of discussion among four doctors -- three at U.C. Davis and my own -- regarding the pathology reports from both the initial biopsy on December 28 and the surgery two weeks ago. They were going back and forth for 20 minutes, I gather, discussing the slides, samples, diagnosis, and depth of disease. Final verdict: the tumor, or melanoma, developed on the surface of an atypical nevus. The latter are generally harmless but look like melanomas to begin with and then I did develop melanoma in it.
(This would explain why a dermatologist was not alarmed when he looked at the mark three years ago: he recognized it as an atypical mole. In the intervening years, however, it became malignant, and that's what my current dermatologist saw. And, let me say, what I saw, and why I went in to the second dermatologist in the first place.)
I had four more spots on my right arm burned off this morning. If they don't heal within four weeks, I return to have them biopsied, but they'd most likely be squamous cell carcinomas, which are far less deadly than melanomas.
The dermatologist also did a full body check and circled two moles on my back to keep close track of going forward.
Orders: regular follow-ups every three months for life. Um, okay. It beats the alternative, you know?
All in all, I'm feeling pretty lucky. It was possible that they might not have gotten all the cancer with the first surgery, which would have been a drag. Or that the tumor, once examined, would suggest that it had even metastisized. Neither happened.
Nor did I have to have any other spots biopsied -- today, at least.
I'm not wild about the bubbly blisters that now mark the burned-off areas on my arm, but whatever. I've had that done several times now, and it beats the development of those spots into full-grown tumors.
Lucky. That's what I am. Plain damn lucky.
