My Story

In June 2011, at 33 years old, I was just about carefree and thought I was invincible. Then the "C" word came into my life. I had a mole biopsied (which EVERYONE said I should get checked out for a long time before I went to the dermatologist), and learned that not only was it melanoma, but it was possibly metastatic, and I would need a PET scan and lymph node biopsy to find out for sure. The scan came back all clear, which was a huge relief, and when I had surgery to remove the melanoma itself, they also biopsied the closest lymph nodes, and those came back all clear as well, another huge relief! A few weeks after the surgery, I was back to normal in the gym and the rest of my activities, and had a cool 5 inch scar on my shoulder that I was kinda proud of.

After a while, aside from visits to the dermatologist every 3 months, I sort of forgot about the whole scare and thought I was past it all, especially since there were no other moles the derm was too worried about. I also figured, they'll catch any new melanoma really fast, and slice it off, and it won't be too big a deal.

WRONG. In June 2012, I was at my one year mark since diagnosis, I was very hopeful that once again, nothing would be found to cause concern at my skin checkup, and I thought they'd tell me I could start coming every 6 months (I think I was wrong about that, regardless, but it's inconsequential). Well, skin was just fine, but as she checked my lymph nodes, as she did at every appointment, the derm felt a mass in the nodes under my left arm. She ordered an x-ray, bloodwork, and PET scan, and said I should make an appointment with an oncologist, and apparently this was all routine anyway, I just didn't know it. (That's a whole other story, for another day)

Even after this, I still wasn't THAT worried (apparently I'm pretty positive, who knew?), and I went and had my testing done, and just knew that I was fine. Yep, wrong again. A few weeks later, I got a call saying that my lymph nodes lit up in the PET scan, and a biopsy would need to be done to see what it was for sure. A week or so later, I got the dreaded news, the melanoma had spread to my lymph nodes, so more surgery would be needed, and most likely immunotherapy (cancer drug treatment) would be needed as well. In August, I had the surgery to remove all the lymph nodes under my left arm, and 5 weeks later, I'm recovering like a champ, if I do say so myself :).  I'll start radiation treatments soon, under the arm where lymph nodes were removed, and I'm hoping to get into a clinical trial for immunotherapy, where I could possibly get a new medicine that should work better than interferon, which is the current standard for melanoma.

So, to sum all this up: I tanned, not excessively, but I tanned. I did not go see the dermatologist like I should have. I got stage 2 melanoma, which is now stage 3b. It's not fun, it's something I have to worry about for the rest. of. my. life. GO GET YOUR SKIN CHECKED PEOPLE! Wear sunscreen, etc, obviously, but go get your skin checked, and while I'm on the subject, get everything else checked too, as appropriate for your age, gender, etc. Early detection is almost always the key. So that's my rant for now, and that's the #1 piece of advice I have to give to others.

I'll keep posting as I feel like it, about what's going on with me and how treatment goes (and any other random thing I feel like, b/c hey, it's MY blog!). It's been very helpful for me to read others' stories, so maybe someone will read mine someday and either save themselves a lot of trouble, or have a better idea of what they're in for, or something. If nothing else, at least it gives me an outlet to ramble as I see fit. Have a good one, don't take anything for granted, and be thankful for every new day. :)