A recent study shows that the standard procedure of removing all of the lymph nodes located near a tumor actually doesn’t help melanoma patients live longer. Ordinarily, if a patient presents with melanoma in a lymph node, some doctors would opt for a procedure called completion lymph node dissection, which basically means all of the lymph nodes near the affected… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »