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Needing some guidance please

Forums General Melanoma Community Needing some guidance please

  • Post
    Skijules22
    Participant

    Hi all-

     following up with my drs this week but really worried about what’s going on. I had stage I melanoma in 2005 and have been checked and healthy since.

     

    for the last 2 months, I have been dizzy and fatigued. Ended up in ER in Feb- brain/neck MRI and chest X-ray normal, other than incidental findings of mucous retention cyst in sinuses and calcified nodule in lung. Noticed enflamed inguinial nodes 2 weeks ago and saw GYN yesterday. No masses seen but she is concerned w my melanoma hx and has my anxieties up. 

    I am 38 with2 small kids and am catastrophizing. My last skin check was in May2017. 

    am I right to be concerned w a clear check last year? (I’m terrible about knowing what’s new/different on my own).

    I’m worried that perhaps the melanoma is internal andneverwas visible and could be quite far along. 

     

    Any questions/concerns I should bring up Monday?

     

    thank you all so much 

     

    Julie 

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  • Replies
      dessie
      Participant

      im not as knowledgeable as others on this forum..but maybe a bx of the lymph nodes may be a start?  I am not sure the insurance company will cover a PET scan w/o a dissection or not… But with my limited knowledge here,  I would ask for an excisional biopsy of the lymph nodes and or a PET scan but I am NOT an expert at all.

      good luck today 

      Dessie

      TomW
      Participant

      I had two (arm/chese)melonomas surgically removed a few years ago and had been having visual body checks every 4 months since then and thought there was no problem.    Last june I was having fatigue, balance issues, and feinted and my cardiologist suggested an MRI which detected brain cancer.  Then I had a pet scan that showed cancer throughout my body including lungs.  I want to a oncologist who told me he needed a biopsy to indicate which type of the numerous types of cancer I had.  It turned out to be melanoma and is being treated with immune therapy.  My take-a-way from all of this is talk to an oncologist,  get a pet scan, if he recommends it and if you have cancer and then have a biopsy to find out the kind of cancer you have so it can be treated.  

      Dwarla
      Participant

      Try to stay positive and calm. It is very hard to do but very important. I think finding out if it is cancer and what kind is the first step. Nothing can be done until then. No cancer, no problem! If it is melanoma, there are very good treatments. 

      I pray that you are cancer free and wish you all the best!

      Robin

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