# Melanoma



## Greg Truby (Oct 14, 2005)

I have been pondering what (if anything) to write on this subject.  By both disposition and upbringing I ain't much of one to discuss personal matters out in public.  Last few days I’ve been a fence-sittin’ tryin’ to decide if’n I oughtter write this or I oughtter not write this.  I’m gonna go with “oughtter”, so here 'tis...

Six months ago or so I noticed a very dark mole on my forearm while shaving me mug in the mornin'.  "Hmmm, don' recall seein' that before" I thought to myself.  On my next trip to the doctor, I have him take a look; but he doesn't think it's anything.  Fast forward to a few weeks ago: "Doc, I can't say fer sure, but seems to me this feller here's a-growin'".  The mole itself was dark, darker than any other mole on me hide.  Size-wise it was not that big, 'bout 3mm in diameter.  Borders were not ragged, relatively symmetrical.  But I'm a bit insistent about not likin' this particular mole, so Doc mollycoddles me and agrees to take it off.  A week later I'm back to get it taken off and a week after that I'm back to get the stitches out and hear the pathology report.  Now I was expecting him to say "the path report was negative, it was just a mole after all ya paranoid lily-livered girl, now go home."  But that's not what he said.  He looked me straight in the eyes and said "Melanoma, blah, blah, blah, blah".  See, I didn't hear what followed "melanoma" because my ears were still ringing from Thor's Hammer having swung down out of the heavens and striking me straight in the sternum and I'm sittin’ on the edge of the examination table lookin' like a concussed troll.  Eventually my vision clears and I'm back in the room and I hear him say "we caught it as early as anyone ever catches it.  Your chances of a good outcome are very good, probably better'n 90%."
____"And a 'bad' outcome?"  (He's supposed to say "bad" means chemo or major surgery.)
____"'Bad' would mean you die."  (This is a very unsettling thing to hear, BTW.)

It is now two weeks to the day since then and I have learned that my melanoma was "in situ" or "Stage 0"; which is the very first stage.  I have already been to the plastic surgeon for the initial consultation and back again for the second excision of the surrounding tissue.  SOP for _in situ_ it just let the nice lady surgeon carve off a bit of me pelt and it’s pretty much over.  No chemo, no lymph nodes being dyed &/or removed.  Just a 2-inch scar and nine stitches.

So, two weeks ago, after I got back in front of a computer screen I hit the internet and started readin' up on melanoma and it turns out that it can be pretty deadly _if you let it._  I learned that it's not the area, but the _depth_ that matters and even the thickest skin you've got ain't but a couple of millimeters thick, folks.  There are so many survival statistics and so many variables that I cannot in good conscience quote any without a page of footnotes.  But I learned that if you catch melanoma at stage 0, the survival rates are high – north of 99% from everything I have read.  Put it off and things get worse, and they get worse pretty quick.  There are all sorts of factors but in a nutshell there are only a couple of *millimeters* that separate Stage 0 from Stage I & Stage I from Stage II. Stages III & IV have to do with how far it’s spread.  All the melanoma cells have to do it get past the couple of mm of skin you’ve got and get into your lymph or blood vessels and you’re at Stage III or IV. 

So, why am I taking the time to tell you about my last two weeks?   Because maybe, just maybe, someone will read this and get his or her @ss to a doctor next week instead of putting it off.  

Let me ask you this – if you walked into the kitchen and you saw that the stove was on and that a box of cereal was on the burner and smoke was just starting to come out, what would you do?  You would walk over and turn the burner off.  Then you’d toss the cereal in the sink and run some water over it, open a window to clear out the smoke and voilá, situation handled.  You would not say, “Oh, I’ve got that report to work on, I’ll just run to the den and work on that for a while.  I can address this later after it’s caught fire and the house is a-blaze.”  Well, most of y’all wouldn’t, some of y’all I ain’t so sure about…  Same deal with skin cancer.  Take care of it right away and the damage is cosmetic.  Let it go from smoldering to blazing before you call 911 and you’ve got structural damage (or worse).

So, that is why I’m going against my introverted nature and posting this.  *If you have a mole or a whatever-you-wanna-call-it, and you think maybe you ought to have a doctor take a look at it, get yer butt to the doctor and get it looked at!*  Do not put yourself in a position of saying “if only I had gotten this looked at earlier…”  *Millimeters* count on this stuff!  There ain’t a damned thing you’ve got to do next week that’s worth your life.

So, at the risk of being redundant -- I didn’t write this to garner any sympathy.  You don’t need to send me well-intentioned messages of support (pray for me if’n ya wanna, won’t say no to that).  I wrote this to prompt *you* into action if it’s warranted.  Obviously, I hope that I am “preaching to the choir” and no one will need a kick in the knickers to get to his physician.  But if’n ya need a boot put to yer britches ta get to the doctor consider this a size-13 motivator (size 48 for you European blokes) to get to the doctor next week.

So, good night, God bless and I’ll see you back in the Questions forums.


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## whiteghost (Oct 15, 2005)

Hi Greg,

I'm really pleased that it was caught in time and your recovery will be full and complete. Everyone should listen to this, as it is sound advice. 

all the best

William


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## just_jon (Oct 15, 2005)

Good luck, Greg - kick M's ***.


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## Greg Truby (Oct 15, 2005)

Thank you, William & Jon.  Like I said, I didn't "share" this for my own benefit.  I told the story because I took action early and therefore I got off easy (so far, anyhow).   I wanted to goad/coax/persuade others to take action *now* if they should.  And, needless to say, I will now be more diligent about checking myself for other cancers as well.  But even if someone reads this now and it's not until a year from now that she spots somthing "suspicious", but because my words echoed in her head, she gets the whatever-it-is checked out sooner rather than later - then this message will have done its purpose.

And while I'm back here -- I needed to check with her first to make sure I could "out" her for being a truly nice person and, consistent with her niceness, she said "Ohmigoodness...okay".  

When I first learned that I had melanoma and before I had the good sense to get a copy of the path report and confirm that it was _in situ,_ I sent a note to Anne Troy (Dreamboat) to see if she had any websites she would recommend.  While she didn't have any websites to recommend, she did take the time to write me back a very thoughtful note.  So an unexpected benefit of this skirmish has been to make a new friend.   Therefore, I would like to take this chance to thank Anne for simply being such a good soul.

So *"thank you"*, Anne. 

Greg

PS -  For anyone who would need a starting point, the American Cancer Society certainly has a complete site.  And, while I did not use them for any part of my treatment, I found this site http://patient.cancerconsultants.com/ to be very informative.


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## Smitty (Oct 15, 2005)

Nice out Greg!

That's something I worry about all the time, being Irish natured with a tinge of red hair, and having spent (and still do) a good deal of my time outdoors.  Learn the lesson well fellas (and SoCal bikini gals): sunscreen may stink and it may be a bit greeeeasy, but it can also save (or prolong) your slimy a$$.

On a side note, our secretary is in her 4th week of intense chemo/radiation therapy, with 3 more weeks to go.  It's been hell and she's lost close to 40 pounds (the good part is that she needed to), but this was for something that was stage 0+1/2.  She didn't say what it was other than it was the "female type" and we didn't ask.

Serious **** and I'm glad you caught it.

I know if I died that Cyndi'd kick my a$$!  (Without a BIG insurance policy anyway!)

Take care y'all,

Smitty


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## Tazguy37 (Oct 16, 2005)

Greg Truby said:
			
		

> PS -  For anyone who would need a starting point, the American Cancer Society certainly has a complete site.  And, while I did not use them for any part of my treatment, I found this site http://patient.cancerconsultants.com/ to be very informative.



I'm very glad you got that taken care of so quickly, Greg.  Even a matter of a few weeks can make a huge difference in situations like this.

I'm speaking from personal experience, people....  Even if you can't stand to go to doctors, just DO IT!  The live you save may be your own (or a very close friend or family member).

Also, if anybody has any questions about the American Cancer Society, and you can't find what you're looking for online or on the phone, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can dig up.  My mother-in-law works there, so...


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## Zack Barresse (Oct 17, 2005)

Very nice post Greg.  Thank you very, very much for sharing.  This happens more often than people think.  Chances are that you know quite a few people who may have been affected by cancer.  These are definitely things that cannot wait while life goes on.  The earlier the better.  Things that are wrong, or seem wrong, need to be mentioned to the doctor.  Even if you _don't know what it is or means_.  Sometimes the very smallest of things, the most inconsequential of things, they can make a difference.

If you've found Anne as a friend Greg, then you've found a dear friend indeed.  She has got to be one of the most caring people I have ever met.  She's quite wonderful.

Much luck with the rest of your recovery Greg.


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## shades (Oct 17, 2005)

I have a very good friend (also in KC area) who has been a swimmer, outdoor hound, etc. for many years, and now coaches swimming. She is 44 and a year ago they discovered a small spot on her upper thigh. Yes, melanoma, and they also caught it in time. But even then it required major surgery twice to get it all and heal properly.

best to you, Greg, and definitely prayers...


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## Joe4 (Oct 17, 2005)

Greg,

At what point do moles become a concern?  I have had two moles appear where I didn't have them before, but they don't seem to be growing very fast.  I mentioned it to my doctor, but he did not seem too concerned.  He said that it is normal to have new moles to pop-up during your life.

Then question is: then how do you know when to be concerned about them, and when not to?


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## Norie (Oct 17, 2005)

jmiskey

I'm no doctor but you should go and see yours if these moles change shape/size/colour or become irritating.


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## Joe4 (Oct 17, 2005)

I have been searching around, and I found a good web site with info and lots of pictures:

http://www.derm.ubc.ca/molemelanoma/watch.html

I don't think any of the moles in questions meet the criteria described, but I will be sure to keep an eye on them!


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## Greg Truby (Oct 17, 2005)

Joe,

*That* is the $64,000 question!  As I've gotten older, more moles or age spots or freckles seem to turn up with each passing year.  You are the umpteenth person to ask me "how did you know to ask about _that_ one?"  The answer is that I didn't entirely.  Over the past few years, I had already asked my doctor about a couple of other things that had popped up and he'd say "no, that's a _______." Or "a ________". (Like a dipstick I didn't pay super-close attention to the exact words, I keyed on the "that's not cancer" part of the sentence.)  Then if I'd see something similar I wouldn't get terribly concerned - but I'd make a note to ask about it on my next visit if I still thought it was unique enough to warrant mention.  So this wasn't the first time I'd had him to look at something and tell me if it was skin cancer.  I had my guard up already; though this was the first time we'd gone ahead and taken anything off.  

As for this specific incident?  This particular mole just "looked different".  It was darker than what is "normal" for me.  It wasn't terribly big.  It was smooth and didn't stick up from the skin.  It didn't look horribly ugly.  And yet, somehow I just never liked the looks of that one.  Other than its color I can't put a finger on anything other than a "gut feeling".   My own doctor didn't think there was anything to this one until I pushed the issue six months or so after my initially having brought it to his attention.  And even after he agreed to do the excision and biopsy he (and therefore I) thought it was going to turn out to be nothing.  

Long story short?  Ya can't really tell 'bout a lot of them (not very reassuring, is it)?  _Have your doctor tell you_ that it's nothing to worry about; don't guess.  And if you still feel uneasy?  Get a second opinion.  Yes, it's a pain in the **** to seek out another doctor - boo hoo.

The second point to glean from my narrative is that had I meekly accepted my doctor's initial assessment -- I might have driven right off the cliff.  This was a large component of my initial "fence sitting" about whether to post anything at all about this in the lounge.  I don't want to cause paranoia/panic and have a bunch of people go to the doctor over "nothings" and then get complacent again.   Would I do more harm than good?  But in the end I decided that to say nothing would make me guilty of a "sin of omission".  How would I feel, if, nine months from now, one of my MrExcel friends were to put up a post in the lounge saying he'd just learned he had stage III melanoma?  I'd have to learn to shave and comb my hair without mirrors, for I'd not be able to look myself in the eyes knowing I'd had a chance to say something and hadn't.

OK - I was just about to post this when I saw Norie's post and then your subseqent post.  My advise is as above: *Have your doctor tell you* that it's nothing to worry about; *don't guess.*  (You said that you've already showed them to your physician and he's said not to worry, so good.)  I too scored this out on the "A|B|C|D" (assymetry|borders|color variation|diameter) system.  Only hit on two out of four (assymetry & color) which initially made me consider _not_ making a doctor's appointment.  But I also used Google's image search to look up pictures of different kinds of skin cancer.  Which - frankly - was what then led me full circle back to having my doctor look at it.  After looking at all those pictures I came to the conclusion that there were just too many things that looked horrid but were benign and too many that looked harmless but were malignent for me to feel comfortable trying to "self diagnose".  What I plan on doing going forward is to keep better records.  I plan on using my digital camera and a ruler to created date-stamped records of sizes of moles/anomolies so that I have more than just a "gut feeling" to go by in the future.  But I will still listen to that little voice, saved my butt once.


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## Joe4 (Oct 17, 2005)

Greg,

Thanks for the follow-up post.  You have made many good points.  

Due to the fact that my doctor said not to worry about it, and due to the fact that I don't think they meet any of the criteria, I feel OK.  However, I will keep a close eye on them, since as the site says, moles that have been normal for 40 years can suddenly change and become malignant.  I will also press my doc for a few more details next time I am in.  Just as your doc said, he had some scientific explanation and name for these things that meant nothing to me (I just focused on the "not cancer" stuff too).

If nothing else, you have made me (any many others) more aware and educated on a subject that we were pretty ignorant on.  It may not help us today, or even tomorrow, but someday it could mean the difference between life and death!  

Thank you!
Joe


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## DougStroud (Oct 25, 2005)

Greg and to all the members of the MrExcel Forum,
     My 2 cents,
Joining this forum has been great. Initially I kept thinking to myself, wow this is awesome, I am getting all kinds of help and support for free. And the vast majority of the time it is instantaneous; no one has ever been in the slightest way condescending with their reply posts to me or anyone else's posts. In the time we live in now, it is so easy to spread negative feelings or attitude which appears to have become a normal behavior.
But not here on MrExcel. Here people really aid other people unselfishly.
     Then one day my experience grew richer. One member took exceptional time to offer some direct assistance, I will not name this person- to protect the innocent  :wink: , and I would say a friendship had been kindled and a respect too.
     So, time moves on, I am learning more, still banging the board and our members for help and I stumble onto the lounge and read some posts that members had submitted, just general things, stuff for beginners, where to get more help and examples, that sort of thing. Then I saw one that showed where the members live with a little people icon, and I added my own. I always look to see where people are from by their little country flag avatar. It always just hits me a little when I see all the different people coming together from different parts of the world, and how a little bit of them and where they are from are in my workbooks now.... pretty cool huh?.
     So now, I am looking all over the board just to see what is going on in different areas and I read your post, Greg, on Melanoma. And as I am reading it, so many thoughts pass through my mind; _wow, and I hope he is ok, and thanks for sharing this exeperience because some un-suspecting character may have just gotten the best free advice they could ever hope for, that character could be me, and the best thought of all_ we are all on this earth for a limited period of time, the people here on this forum are really great people and I am so fortunate to have found this place and these people. Today is my lucky day, I am rollin' 7s.

     Thanks to the creators of this board and all the members for their support and kindness and best wishes to you Greg.

Doug S.


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## shades (Nov 5, 2005)

I have had pre-cancerous spots on my arms for several years. Whenever I had my annual physical I made sure the doctor checked them (when you're over 50 annual physicals are a good thing).

In the last couple of years I have had the spots and moles (I have several that grow) checked every six months. Last Thursday I had my latest check up - no sign of melanoma!!!

Looks like I might make to *really old codger*! 

And I am very thankful for the negative report.


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## Smitty (Nov 6, 2005)

> Thanks to the creators of this board and all the members for their support and kindness and best wishes to you Greg.


The creator would be Bill Jelen (aka: Mr.Excel); and that's about the best testament to the site and its participants I've ever seen!  Thanks!  (It made me feel good anyway).

And as for you:





> Looks like I might make to really old codger !


I don't think there's any chance of getting rid of you anytime soon my friend!





> And I am very thankful for the negative report.


I'll try to remember that when Campbell brings home her first school report... 

Take care!

Smitty


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## Mr_Stability (Nov 9, 2005)

*Not just melanoma*

My wife's father had a mouth cancer spotted by his dentist.
the dentist found Leucoplakia(hope the spelling's OK) - small white lesions on the underside of his tongue. He was referred to the local hospital, and the consultant took a biopsy whick came back positive for cancer.  he then removed about 1/5 of john's tongue (a strip on the left hand side). 
That stopped John from smoking, which he'd been doung for over 60 years.
That was over 2 years ago.  He's OK now - a grumpy 78, with check ups every 2 months.

So, if you hafe small round or oval white bits in you rmouth, and the won't go away GET THEM CHECKED!


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## Greg Truby (Nov 17, 2006)

Well, it's late on a Friday and I've been meaning to do this for quite some time.  But generally I remember when I'm shaving in the morning and I see the scar and then I forget again. 

I've been to the dermatoligist four times in the past year and each time

*NOTHING TO REPORT*

Which is what you want to hear from the nice doctor lady.  I am only posting on this thread to bump it back to the top of the heap in the lounge for a short while in the hopes that it might catch the eye of any newbies that have started visiting MrExcel in the past year and -- if their situation warrants -- it could prompt someone into taking action weeks, months or years sooner than they otherwise might.

...over and out...


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## Oorang (Nov 17, 2006)

That's awesome Greg, I'm glad we will have to put up with your thread-hijacking ways a bit longer 

*starts looking at skin very closely*


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## Zack Barresse (Nov 18, 2006)

Good news Rich, David & Greg.  

This type of stuff (IMO) is great to talk about.  It seems very taboo at times and when it's thrust in peoples faces they're forced to make the choice to think about it or not.  It's not something to be ashamed of or hide in anyway, and it certainly doesn't make you less of a man/woman.

I'm very glad for everyone's good news!


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## Domski (Jan 10, 2008)

Greg, more than glad that that your caught it when you did.

Couple of years ago when my dad was in his late fifties and just up for retiring he just started to get a bit forgetful and the odd headache. He was fit as a fiddle but one day he took the dog for a walk and suddenly couldn't remember his way home. Luckily Muffin (mad chocolate Labrador who knew where his supper was but was equally the coolest dog ever) led the way.

Within a couple of weeks he was in a high dependency unit in Birmingham and days later the docs said it was pretty much over and we had to let him slip away.

Cut me up pretty bad as you can imagine but since then have realised a few things:

- you never know what life might throw at you
- catch it and make the most of what it gives you
- be joyful for the opportunities it passes your way
- have as few regrets as you possibly can
- live for the now because the might never happen
- most of all try not to worry about what might not happen tomorrow

I hope you all can all look today in the eye and say you've made the most of it. If not do so tomorrow!!!!

Best wishes,

Dom


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