A Medical Saga ( with an OK ending, for now) →[More:]The call came at 6pm last night while we were out to dinner. . .The lymph node biopsy was negative!

In early September I went to the dermatologist to get a pimple on my nose looked at, since I have had a basal cell carcinoma cut off it a few years ago. The dermatologist (actually his asst.) took a little bit of it for biopsy, and I also mentioned a spot on my shoulder. She looked at it, thought that it might also be a basal cell carcinoma or something benign, and took a sample, then gave each place a little stitch.

The following week, I go back to get the stitches out and she goes, "OMG the lab report says the thing on your shoulder is a melanoma and it's probably metastacized," at which point I went into shock. She proceeded to cut the whole thing out, along with a silver dollar sized piece of skin and then stretch the skin around it in order to stitch it up, and send it off.

A melanoma is VERY bad news, and it it's spread anywhere, stopping it is not a sure thing. So I am very upset, call my wife for a ride home (I was going to take the bus) and just fret. This was Sept 17, that I got the news.

A few days later, they called with the second biopsy results. ..yep, melanoma, intermediate thickness, not ulcerated, etc. Refer me to an olcologist in the same building with experience in these things. But could not get in for several weeks, so went ahead and went to NYC, very worried but not feeling sick at all. Had very good time in NYC, met a lot of your lovely selves, etc.

Two days after getting back, the appt. He is neutral about the prognosis but in the next few weeks, had a ct scan on my brain, a PET scan on my whole body (which is a two-hour scan to try to find "hot spots" anywhere). And a morning of MOHS surgery on my nose, which became a side show, even as painful as it was and as ugly as my nose still is.

Both scans negative for cancer activity, so then this last Tuesday, surgery to remove and biopsy the sentinel lymph node, which, after injecting some radioactive stuff in the original site and seeing where the lymph drains, which was my neck. So then I wake up with a bandage where a vampire would have bitten me, and pee blue the rest of the day, go home, and wait.

Of course I knew I should not surf the net about melanoma. The oncologist said that there was only like a 20% chance of spread, but of course I can't stay off the net about it and over the week, (really since the original news) reading everything I can about it and playing different scenarios out in my head.

Ironically livestrong.com pretty much said that if you have melanoma that has spread at all, you're screwed. Other sites were a tad more encouraging.

The news of all this was shared with my boss and a couple intimates at work and my best friend, and other than that, was not shared with anyone, because I really did not know what I was dealing with. I will now tell my mom and daughter this weekend, because, either way, the lymph node biopsy gives some definition to it.

So I feel very lucky, humble, and also foolish that I had this spot and the M word never even entered my consideration. I will have to go every three months to get every inch of skin looked at, and possibly other stuff, but for now, it's very good news. It could, of course change the other way in time, though.

I know that others here have dealt with cancer in their own bodies or their loved one's bodies, and I wish everyone well.

If you have gotten this far, thanks for listening. . .you are among the first outside my intimate circle to know.