Tag Archives: diagnosis

DWTS Dancer’s Tango with Melanoma

      2 Comments on DWTS Dancer’s Tango with Melanoma

I think that’s the cheesiest headline for a blog post I’ve ever written and I’ve written a few doozies over the past almost 4 years… Anyway, I should make it clear that I know absolutely nothing about Dancing With the Stars. In fact, I really don’t know much about TV shows in general anymore. The last time I voluntarily turned… Read more »

Mad at the World…For All the Good Reasons

      No Comments on Mad at the World…For All the Good Reasons

Since my dad died, I get this question a lot – how are you doing? And some days, I answer with an “ehh” sound; some days I reply “doing OK”; but some days that question is met with a grimace and I can’t ever answer at all. That horrible, crushing feeling of grief – the kind that won’t let you… Read more »

Melanoma Blood Test on the Horizon?

      No Comments on Melanoma Blood Test on the Horizon?

If you follow the news regarding advancements in melanoma detection and treatment as much as I do, you may have seen the news story that researchers in Australia have been working on developing a blood test that could identify early-stage melanoma. This is really exciting news because as we all know, the earlier you detect melanoma, the better the odds… Read more »

Symptoms You Can’t See – Really?

      No Comments on Symptoms You Can’t See – Really?

I found an article that notes that although 99 out of 100 cases of skin cancer has a lesion that is found on the skin; there is a possibility that you could have skin cancer without a visible lesion. How? As Dr. Jeremy Davis, a clinical instructor and surgeon at UCLA Health explains, “It’s not common, but there are situations… Read more »

Don’t Just Look for Changes in Moles

      No Comments on Don’t Just Look for Changes in Moles

Because of my history of amelanotic nodular melanoma, I’m all too familiar with skin cancer arising out of a patch of clear skin. Apparently researchers agree that new skin spots are just as worthy of a dermatologist’s review than existing moles. The science behind this claim? Researchers reviewed 38 previously published medical studies involving more than 20,000 melanomas. Only 29%… Read more »

Two Celebs with Skin Cancer in the News

      No Comments on Two Celebs with Skin Cancer in the News

Today, I saw two different stories about celebrities who were diagnosed with skin cancer, in this case, basal cell carcinoma. As mentioned in a previous post, basal cell carcinoma is the most frequently diagnosed skin cancer. While not usually deadly, it can be disfiguring if not caught in time. Bethanny Frankel had a growth under her eye removed that turned… Read more »

Melanoma Story from My Own Backyard

      No Comments on Melanoma Story from My Own Backyard

I am not a morning person. I blame that on the fact that I was born around noon and my internal clock was then set for me to be an afternoon-type person. So, I missed the recent story on the Today Show (which airs when I’m still stumbling around semi-coherently in the morning getting ready for work) about an Austin woman… Read more »

Sad Story from Tampa

      No Comments on Sad Story from Tampa

In a recent news story out of Tampa, a widow describes how she lost her husband to amelanotic melanoma. Spreading from a lesion on his calf into the lymph system, the cancer ended up claiming the man’s life after a 3-year battle against the disease. He had a lump in his groin that signified the spread of the cancer and… Read more »

Artificial Intelligence Might be the Next Frontier for Skin Cancer Detection

I mentioned in a previous post that I work for a big data platform company, which I am hopeful can be used to really allow data to help make people’s lives better, healthier, and safer. One of the recent articles that has come out regarding artificial intelligence has a deeply personal aspect, skin cancer detection. Now, I know I wrote… Read more »