Long wait for pathology vs my anxiety

[Levatrice]

Hello,

First, I need to disclose that I have a lot of anxiety related to my melanoma. I was first diagnosed at 27, the same year my father died of a rare form of skin cancer.

That being said, I had a WLE in 2001 for a 1a superficial spreading melanoma.

In 2010 I had an in situ recurrence in my scar.

Two weeks ago I had another mole removed from my scar. It was taking my derm much longer than usual so I called for results and was told the pathologist had called to find out for sure if it was in my scar line.

By my (admittedly) anxiety ridden way of thinking, they’re only asking about the scar because they’re measuring. And they only measure melanomas.

I’m freaking out, which I know is not productive, but my anxiety takes over sometimes.

It was so tiny, it couldn’t have been there very long because I keep up and I see the derm every 6 months without fail.

I guess I’m not sure what I’m looking for, no one can tell me what it was. If it was in my scar it’s more likely to be a local recurrence, right? Does the fact that it was so tiny, like a pinhead, work in my favor?

Help!

[Catherine Poole]

Anxiety is normal, so don’t kick yourself about it. Just try to breathe and do other things that help calm you. Frequent check ups usually guarantee that the lesion will be early at the worst case scenario. What type of skin cancer did your father pass away from? Merkle cell? This wouldn’t necessarily make you more at risk. Try to remember that this too will pass and let us know how you are doing.

[Levatrice]

Thanks, Catherine, you’re always the voice of reason. I really appreciate your posts.

My dad had skin cancer of the foreskin. Being Italian, he wasn’t circumcised and in his early 40’s he started having issues with that area. He decided to get circumcised and when he did they found skin cancer. He declined total amputation, which was their recommendation and less than 5 years later it metsd to his pelvic lymph nodes.

Anyway, I think his (long and horrible) death really affected my psyche. Being diagnosed with such a deadly cancer the same year didn’t help.

Until you’ve been through it, you can’t understand how hard the wait for a biopsy is.

[Levatrice]

Sorry, I meant to add that I can’t remember the actual name of the cancer he had.

[Author]

Posts