Category Archives: Living with Melanoma

My own personal experience with melanoma

Healing update – 6 weeks from excision

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It seems crazy that my excision was 6 weeks ago. Some days, it feels like it was just yesterday; and other days it seems so long ago. This morning, I had a meeting earlier than I usually get into work. I went to bed earlier than usual last night and got up an hour earlier than usual. I actually felt… Read more »

Healing – scar update

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1 month scar

It has been over a month since my excision. The wound is completely closed up and the infection is completely gone. I’m now in the scar phase. To recap, I had an amelanotic nodular melanoma lesion removed from my knee area. The spot was about the diameter of a pencil eraser, but the excision took a pretty big chunk of… Read more »

In the city by the bay…and not feeling the same as last month

I am in San Francisco for a work event. Ordinarily, I love being here and walking around the city. However, I’m still recovering from the excision and even though my wound is healed, I’m still feeling a really strange pulling sensation in my leg – almost like the internal stitches are being yanked. Normally, I get a hotel that doesn’t… Read more »

Just like Harry Potter’s scar…

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The last few days have been fairly stressful for me from a psychological standpoint. My husband, who is out of work, thought he had a job offer coming; but instead was told that the position “isn’t funded”. Why you would go through the process of interviewing someone multiple times, both on the phone and in-person, over the course of a… Read more »

Nearly four weeks from the excision update

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Today was my visit with the doctor who performed the excision of my amelanotic nodular melanoma lesion. Naturally, I was a little worried that I still showed signs of infection in the wound, despite being on antibiotics for two weeks and pouring vinegar solution on my leg every day for a week. I had this weird peeling skin around the… Read more »

#LoveMe Challenge – we all have scars, right?

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3 week scar

Ironically, today’s #LoveMe Challenge is to share a scar…As readers of this blog may already know, I recently had an excision of an amelanotic nodular melanoma tumor removed from my knee. I’ve already covered the story of how it was found, how it was excised, and some of the “fun” of the recovery. Technically, I guess what I’m sharing isn’t… Read more »

Going public or being outed?

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Since I had been diagnosed with amelanotic nodular melanoma in early December 2014, I’ve actually been pretty cautious about who I tell. Blog nonwithstanding, I haven’t gone public on social media asking for prayers and positive thoughts. Part of me loathes those messages because unless you are actually a close friend, you’ll half-heartedly post “Praying for you” and then go… Read more »

Infected wound care – homemade antibiotic

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When I went to my last follow-up, the doctor told me that while the infection was getting better, I needed to switch my antibiotic and do a rinse on the wound. Not Neosporin, not anything prepackaged…a rinse of distilled water and white vinegar. The only vinegar we seemed to have on hand was balsamic and I’m pretty sure she didn’t… Read more »

Excision wound care and healing – a lesson in patience and sewing

If you’re following the blog, you know that I had an amelanotic nodular melanoma tumor removed from my knee in mid-late December. Because it was in a bendy spot, I had to get an elliptical excision. And because amelanotic nodular melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, they had to go pretty deep into my leg tissue to… Read more »

#LoveMe Challenge – cancer and all

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While I was browsing Pinterest, I came across the #LoveMe Challenge. According to the page I found, #LoveMe is a challenge to love yourself. Everyday there will be a prompt for you to look at yourself, embrace who you are, and hopefully help you learn that you are beautiful, you are amazing and you need to love who you are…. Read more »