One day in January, 2010, I felt a small bump on my scalp. At the time, I thought it was a small pimple. I scratched it thinking it would go away within a few days, like most pimple do. A week later, I still felt the bump on my scalp. I asked my husband to look at it. He told me it looked like a small mole. However, he had an Aunt who died from skin a few years before. He has been on high alert for skin cancer.
I worked for a doctor at the time, and I asked him what he had thought. He said that because of the place of where it is located I really should go see a dermatologist (someone who specializes in skin). I made a consultation appointment with a local dermatologist.
The dermatologist removed the small bump and sent it to a laboratory. I waited some six weeks when I contacted the doctor, he stated that he got the results and he said, “I’m pretty sure I got it all”. At this point I still did not get the actual results of my test. After that, he told he wanted to do an additional surgery to remove a larger portion to make sure he had gotten all the tissue. A few days later, I showed up for the procedure and the doctor told me he didn’t think I needed to have more tissue removed. He had a “let’s wait and see” attitude. That wasn’t a reassuring attitude.
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Finally, after speaking with the physician I work with, he decided to make a phone call for me. My employer felt the same way I did, in that neither one of us trusted the dermatologist and his decisions. My employer then called a friend of his at Stanford Cancer Center, Palo Alto, CA.
By the end of March, I was off to Stanford. Stanford is a teaching hospital. That meaning, students who want to be future doctors will train alongside physicians and get hands on experience. By the time that I was headed off to Stanford I was extremely nervous. Afterall, I had no idea whether I had melanoma or not and where with bump was located. Not to mention another surgery.
The staff was very reassuring. They took great care in dealing with me. Their lobby they had someone playing a harp. It was a relaxing moment in time. The hospital has several areas of specialty. I was in the head and neck wing.
I had my surgery within a week. Stanford also performed a sentinel lymph node biopsy to make sure the melanoma had not traveled to the nearby lymph nodes on the left side of my neck. Generally, the surgery is an out patient procedure where you would go home afterward. But, in my case we requested to spent one night in the hospital for a Vancomycin drip to prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). MRSA is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body. It’s tougher to treat than most strains of staphylococcus aureus — or staph — because it’s resistant to some commonly used antibiotics. The symptoms of MRSA depend on where you’re infected.
In 2009, 7 years after my gastric bypass surgery, I decided to have a tummy tuck and breast lift. I had lots of excess skin and wanted to feel normal. After that surgery I contracted MRSA and had an open wound on my left breast for six months Dec. 2009. I’m not sure where I contracted it. It has been a growing threat to hospitalized patients in recent years.
About two weeks of my surgery from Stanford the dermatologist who did the first surgery informed me that I indeed had Melanoma. It was Clark’s level 4, Breslow stage IIB. Clark’s Level 4 means the melanoma has spread into the reticular or deep dermis. Stage 2B means one of the following:
- the melanoma is between 2 and 4mm thick and is ulcerated
- it is thicker than 4mm and is not ulcerated
Mine was not ulcerated. About one week after my surgery I landed in the hospital again for another bout of MRSA. MRSA is extremely difficult to get rid of. Vancomycin was very harsh on m y body and blew out a vein about every 20 minutes after insertion of the needle, which was very painful. I had an open wound on my scalp for a little more than 4 months. It leaves some nasty scars. And, certainly is nobody’s friend.
The test results came back from Stanford stating that no cancer cells were detected in the sample, as well as no cancer cells had traveled to the lymph nodes in the neck. I had to do follow up visits to Standford every six months for two years then once a year after that. It has been nine years since I was diagnosed and treated with no reoccurrence in the same area or anywhere else. On a side note, my father had melanoma on the opposite side of his scalp than mine. Over the course of a few years he had melanoma some 5+ times.
