Living with Skin Cancer

My story of melanoma started about 9 years ago. Although fair and freckled I’ve never had a mole. (I do have a history of sunburns as a child.) I developed what looked like a large freckle (1″x 1/2″) on my lower leg. I showed this to my Primary care Doc and was told not to worry about it.

About 6 months later I noticed it had grown and now looked like a little mountain range. It itched and even bled, yet still I waited to get it looked at. In November 2000 I found out I had melanoma.( 3.1 mm, Clark’s Level IV ) My excisional surgery and sentinel node biopsy was in March 2001. Two lymph nodes were positive so my right groin lymph nodes were removed.

About 2 months later I started high dose IV Interferon. It was supposed to be for a month, I only tolerated it for two weeks. I received no further treatment, just periodic imaging and labwork. It’s now 2009 and I’ve had no problems. I do still visit my oncologist and I’ll quickly obtain treatment if I notice any unusual skin lesions.

I know I’m lucky and wanted to share this so other people will know they can be lucky too. If you do notice an abnormal skin area DON’T WAIT, just go now and have it checked out.

Thanks for reading my story.