Hi,
I just got the message from my doctor that I have melanoma. I am scared being a mom and having two little ones…
Belinda
I can help you. Please tell me more about your pathology etc.
–
Catherine M. Poole
President and Founder
Melanoma International Foundation
250 Mapleflower Rd.
Glenmoore, PA 19343
610-942-3432 Fax Phone
866-463-6663 Patient/Family Hotline
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From: Belindahogue melanoma-cpt4564@lists.careplace.com
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malannoma is treatable i will be praying for you where is it and how big
and how long was it there?=0D
I had it for 2 years and it was deep and in a bad spot on my ankle where =
it
bends and they got it all out=0D
please keep in touch and keep me informed. I will be praying . =0D
where do you live ? 5 surgens turned me down because of where it was and
because it was so deep =0D
so they sent me to chapal hill NC and the doctor there said no problem t=
hat
is what he does and got=0D
it all out no chemo or radiation! call me if you want 2525146625=0D
=0D
=0D
Love+prayers Annette=0D
God Is like … DIAL SOAP =0D
Aren’t you glad you have Him. Don’t you=0D
wish everybody did.=0D
=0D
aatsmith@earthlink.net=0D
http://community.webshots.com/user/annetteinnc=0D
http://quiltingembroiderybyannette.blogspot.com/=0D
=0D
-------Original Message-------=0D
=0D
From: Belindahogue=0D
Date: 06/19/07 18:47:38=0D
To: aatsmith@earthlink.net=0D
Subject: [melanoma] Just diagnosed and being scared=0D
=0D
Thank you for the reply…
I have not had the pathology back, I got called in yesterday in the doctors office where he told me it was not good.
They will be sending all the paperwork to the Melanoma center in San Francisco where I will be evaluated and treated I guess…its a big cloud right in my head right now.
The spot that turned into this Melanoma, was always a motherspot, it started growing about 4,5 years ago, stopped and recently acted up again, after reading an article that it could be cancerous and deadly I decided to get it checked.
I’m just hoping I am have a fighting chance after walking around with it for so long. Its located on my leg, just at knee hight.
I’m European and the doctor told me that we have more likely a chance to get this illness then others…oh well!
The spot was very surface level, when the doctor cut it away it was very on the surface and had no inside growth…
I guess I will have to learn to deal with this but mostly trying to calm down right now and trying to find some peace!
Thank you for listening!
Belinda
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that is good that it was all on the surface, if you need to talk i have
free long distance send me your ph # .=0D
You are going to be fine ok.=0D
=0D
Love+prayers Annette=0D
God Is like … DIAL SOAP =0D
Aren’t you glad you have Him. Don’t you=0D
wish everybody did.=0D
=0D
aatsmith@earthlink.net=0D
http://community.webshots.com/user/annetteinnc=0D
http://quiltingembroiderybyannette.blogspot.com/=0D
=0D
-------Original Message-------=0D
=0D
From: Belindahogue=0D
Date: 06/20/07 16:45:15=0D
To: aatsmith@earthlink.net=0D
Subject: Re: [melanoma] Just diagnosed and being scared=0D
=0D
sometimes, sometimes what we fear we have already suffered. i had no support and i’m still here. if you have love… you will be fine! call or e-mail to talk. dave@972.533.6961
Belindahogue melanoma-cpt4564@lists.careplace.com wrote:
You are going to a great place where the treatment is very comprehensive. that is the first step. Your doctor is incorrect that Europeans get this more often, but people with fair skin are at risk.
The next step is to arm yourself with information. I can send you a book I’ve written (Melanoma Prevention Detection and Treatment) for free which will help you understand things better. Understanding your pathology will help. You need to know your Breslow Level first, that will indicate if they need to check your lymph nodes for spread.
Keep in mind that lesions on the legs of women have the best outcome! That’s where mine was. You can write me at my personal email address too, cmp11@comcast.net.
I was diagnosed with a melanoma last month. A Clarks II, .2mm. I’ve had the surgery and a follow up appointment scheduled in 3 months with my dermatologist. Should I see an oncologist? The dermatologist office says “its not indicated” for me.
I would see an oncologist if I were you, trust your instincts.
From: d2864 melanoma-cpt4564@lists.careplace.com
Date: 2007/06/21 Thu PM 12:04:15 EDT
To: dianneastin@bellsouth.net
Subject: Re: [melanoma] Just diagnosed and being scared
I would see an oncologist too so that nothing gets missed.
IT IS OK to be scared - IT IS OK to cry
but it is so right to appreciate our precious time.
sorry if this is long below - but it is something I have posted so many times - so true
Love and Healing
Ian
A few comments
I read an interview in an Easyjet flight book - a few months after being given a terminal diagnosis of just six months - given December 19th 2003 (Happy Christmas!)
Interviewer to dot-com millionaire:
‘So you were lucky then?’
Dot com millionaire:
‘Yes I was lucky - I made my own luck’
There ARE things he can do - the white coats do wonders but they do not know why I am alive over two years later – statistics mean nothing for one person - my last scan was stable with just one lesion out of 9 or 10 (that was when I had just a few weeks left - just under 2 years ago)
My recommendations
When you hear of a little child aged 3 - Sammy - dying from cancer - then you appreciate just how lucky you are. When you see a small being, scaly grey skin, matted hair and you look furtively a second time and then realize it is a child aged about 10 - then you stop being sorry for yourself - these are starting points for change
Bristol Cancer Help Centre run a residential 2 day course (cost for 2 would be c £600 - but what is life worth? - this was my ‘turning point’
Change diet
Reduce stress
Enjoy the gift of life
Meditate regularly
Some lucky ones say prayer works
I regularly go to a meditation session at St Michaels Sanctuary, Church Street Ewell - the sessions are most Friday mornings from 10 a.m. to c 12 - we tend to bring along snacks for sharing afterwards - he would be welcome - contribution towards costs is £10
I am happy to receive calls or emails
Love and Healing
Ian
Leatherhead, Surrey, UK
Valerie
I live in the UK and went to the Bristol Cancer Help Centre on a course – they do provide dietary information along with spiritual healing, meditation, art therapy, visioning and other tools – I know that sounds cranky, but I have met sane people who are doing well against expectations and who believe each of those tools have enabled their survival. I went to BCHC for dietary advice because Prince Charles is their patron and therefore I thought they would be benign (as opposed to some who merely seek to exploit our disease for personal gain)
http://www.bristolcancerhelp.org/
Alternatively there is the Gerson Diet - or more an approach to cancer itself – I gather that costs around $40,000 per year but it is a credible therapy that many believe does have an impact in so many cases
http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/9_7.htm
Much cheaper is to subscribe to a new charity here in the UK Canceractive – I have only recently found their journal ‘Icon’ but it seems to me to be so useful - annual subscription here is c $45 p.a. for four issues. I am actively trying to help them as it is a charity and is giving clear and consistent messages which conform to my own learnings.
But I would also seriously consider meditation – even if just to try a session or two. Personally I have found it to have a profound effect – clearing away unhelpful emotions (anger, rage, grief, STRESS) and replacing them with positive emotions (joy at the beauty of life, appreciation of the priority of love, a belief/hope that the mind can induce the body/immune system to fight the cancer). I do go to a journey therapist – I have been on one course and attended two more as a volunteer helper. I have seen them in practice and I would recommend this also
My strategy is to proceed cautiously but with an open mind – and take a few gambles that might help but that have few costly risks. Who knows?
Love and Healing
Ian
In the last 5 weeks, I had a mole removed, it cam eback Clarks level 3 leading ot 4 with a thickness of 1.2mm. Then I had suregery, both a sentinel node biopsy (2 removed under left arm) and an excesion of on my left side of my back that is about 7 inches long, consisting of over 100 stitches in 3 levels of flesh, about 40 stitches on the outside. The Node biopsy has now come back 3 days ago I was called by my surgeon who said the instial [athology they do came back clean but then they did a “DNA staining” that shows micromatastis of .3mm of cells. I am on stand still now, today is Oct. 14 and I don’t get to talk to anyone for the next plan until at least the 22nd. On the16th I go back to my surgeo to have stitches removed (surgery was on Oct.5th) then I go to UCSF Melnoma center on Oct.22nd and my local oncologost on Oct.23rd. All along having to be in the hurry up and wait mode, as my surgeon did mention to me that normally even with micromatastis they go ahead and remove more nodes and generally there is a “therapy” (I assume interferon) to follow. I can’t believe I have to wait over a week knowing al of this. Then I tried to research best I could on the web but can’t come accross much of anything in “laymans” terms of what micrmatastis really is or means.
Well I am really glad i have at least found a place to get this off my chest. Thanks for anyone listening.
Teri,
I am going to UCSF as well, I am in a simulair position like you. I had a mole removed from my left knee, got surgery on July 25th and after finding micromestasteses I will have a full removal of the lymph nodes scheduled at nov. 7th.
PET/ CT scan came back clear and so did my MRI.
Try to focus on the regular things of life, I have been in that same spot like you, wondering why everyone is taking their time. I have done a lot of reading and my opinion is that you have to try to stay as healthy as possible.
Shoot me an email, I think we can support each other in those moments of weakness!
I will be praying for you, have a great day!
Belinda
Dianne,
My oncologist is telling me the same, that I should get a round of chemo just to make sure. I think my fear is that it will come back after 20 years, wich is still better then having no years at all…
I agree with you, keeping yourself busy and trying to stay as healthy as possible is the best you can do, in the mean time telling others about it so that maybe we can educate people on the dangers of this cancer.
How are you doing now? I think that people that had melanoma with micromestasteses should be getting scan’s every year period?
Who did you spoke with in Holland? I am Dutch myself and when I try to find anything about Melanoma in Dutch I think that they are really not getting how dangerous this is (but that is maybe what I am getting back from the forums that I am hunting down)
Sending you hugs!
If you want to email me, my email address is belindahogue@hotmail.com
Hi,
Just stay positive and stay in contact with this group they are a wonderful support system. I didn’t want to let my family and friends know how worried I was, so this group was my family during this time.
I had a spot on my back for at least the length of time that you have and from the sounds of it mine was deeper. So hopefully you won’t have to endure to much.
Robin
Chase’s Mom
Hi Teri,
I know exactly what you mean about being on hold. I thought my head was going to spin off while I was waiting to find out what my therapy would be…and the internet research did not help!
Thirteen years ago I had a mole removed from my right upper thigh. It came back malignant melanoma. Clark’s 3, because I had the lymphnodes removed from my groin, one was positive. I did a year long stint of Interferon at the UM Sylvester Center. Back then it was investigational. Well, fast forward to now. Earlier this year I had a small lump, just under the skin, lower than the original melanoma. I had that removed. And guess what was back? Never had I thought after all this time, it could return! My husband and I did a lot of research. We contacted doctors at MD Anderson, a doctor in Holland, and a friend doctor. I had another wide excision done. No cancer was found in the surrounding tissue. I have started another year long treatment of Interferon. I have had 2 pet/ct scans done. They have been clear. My doctor recommends them every 4 months for at least two years.
I am still scared myself, but I cannot let it take over my life. I let it for a while and was completely miserable. I told myself all the scarey stories one can. Now, I try to keep a positive attitude. try to live healthy. My attitude about my life has been re-evaluated again. In the grand scheme of things, the toothpaste cap left off and dirty socks on the floor really don’t matter. If you know what I mean.
My advise to you is try to keep yourself busy. Get out of the house, go shopping, have lunch with friends, see a movie.
If I can help, please email me dianneastin@bellsouth.net. I live in Dubai, so we are 8 hours ahead of EST.
I will keep you in my prayers. I wish you all the best.
Dianne
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