After a month of calling around to try and find a dermatologist, I decided I couldn’t wait any more. I contacted my general practitioner to at least have someone look at the mole that had seemed to change overnight. I knew there wasn’t much the GP could do, but I was hoping she could get me in to see a dermatologist. I went in thinking she was going to tell me that even though it looked angry, it would turn out to be nothing. The appointment went as planned. She looked at it and called a local dermatologist. I couldn’t get in to see the actual dermatologist but they could get me in to see a physician’s assistant. This was good enough for me! Finally, this scary mole would be looked at. Once at the dermatologist’s office, the PA agreed that the mole was extremely angry and needed to be removed immediately. He did a deep incision in order to get a really good sample for testing. The PA spoke to me about the possibilities but suggested I not jump automatically to melanoma. … [Read more...]

In October 1999, my first husband passed away (heart related).  He left behind 3 young children and his wife (me…in my 40’s).  In June of 2000, I went to the dermatologist, something I had needed to do because I had a mole on my neck that was dark, irregular in shape, bleeding and liquid coming out.  I covered it up with a big band aid. The reason I didn’t go right away was because, one, I was scared and, two, because the job I was at promised I would get health insurance. Well, to make a long story short, I never got the insurance but went to my dermatologist anyway. He called me on my birthday to tell me that I needed to have surgery ASAP to have this removed - that I had melanoma. I got set up with the surgeon, she removed the cancer, then I was to follow up with IL-2. I was giving myself shots daily, until a lump in my neck kept getting bigger.  Once again, the surgeon did a biopsy and it was melanoma in my lymph nodes. I was referred to MD Anderson of Orlando and from … [Read more...]

Hello my name is Tiffany and I am writing because of the story that I just read of Carol. We find bumps and we think nothing of it. When I was 15 years old, I went to my foot doctor because I had a mole that would get caught on my sandles and it changed to a dark color. He took me in the OR and removed it. Within a couple of days I remember the phone ringing and my mother crying and them saying we have to get you back into the OR ASAP. I remember there being a team of doctors and they went in and removed as much as they could. They wanted to cut my foot off but my mother would not let them.  Years later, my bones were being eaten and that same team went in and took the bone out and graphed me a new one. Here I am, ten years and six bone graphs later and I wonder - Is the nightmare really over? You read that when you have malignant melanoma, you are prone to other cancers so when a bump comes up you are scared to have them look at you. I have four kids and scared to death that I … [Read more...]