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 »
Today there is an article in the New York Times titled “Warning: That Tan Could Be Hazardous” that really struck a nerve with me this morning. In the article, it talks about the dangers of indoor tanning and the link between tanning sessions in youth and melanoma. Doctors are quoted about the rise in the number of the cases of… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
What the heck does amelanotic nodular melanoma even mean?
Yesterday, I called my parents to wish them a Happy New Year. I had to time the call for halftime of the early bowl games – and absolutely avoid any of the Ohio State-Alabama pre-game coverage or my dad would probably disown me. Anyway, I was chatting with my mom and realized that she was paranoid that everyone in my… Read more »
My surgeon called and left a message just now. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a call on a holiday eve and didn’t have the ringer turned on. (I think I’m one of the few in today’s American society that doesn’t keep my phone grafted to my fingers…To be honest, I would be just fine if I never had to physically… Read more »
Now that I know that I can make pink melanoma, I’ve been obsessively looking at all my other moles, regardless of what color they are, what shape they are. I’m sure it’s going to be a lifelong obsession – along with trying to find the highest SPF sunscreen my body will tolerate. Naturally, I’m a little concerned about another pink… Read more »
So, if you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering about the surgery to remove my pink melanoma. It’s actually not really surgery at all. In fact, if you want to get all technical, it’s an excision. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. When my dermatologist called me with the news, I admit that I wasn’t thinking as coherently as I… Read more »