Melanoma in leg with edema ! Need Help !
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Melanoma in leg with edema ! Need Help !

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Melanoma in leg with edema ! Need Help !

  • Post
    • August 5, 2019 at 4:46 pm
    Carla2019
    Participant
    Hello,

    I am 78 years old and I was diagnosed with Melanoma in my right leg last month. The problem is that I allready suffer from some type of edema in my legs (lymphedema) for more than 15 years now. I know that in some cases, melanoma can cause edema especially if the lymph nodes are affected (which is not my case since my physician told me that the biopsy clearly indicate that the tumor is thin and that statistically speaking it didn’t affect my lymph nodes. So, in my case, the lymphedema has nothing to do with melanoma. My physician told me that the melanoma must be removed but the problem is that my recovery will be very slow and very complicated since the skin graft that will be applied to the removed region will take more than 1 year to “stick” due to the high concentration of fluids in my leg.

    My questions are:

    1. Does anyone here have any informations or medical references about this specific condition and what is the best way to treat it ?

    2. Is it better to remove the melanoma or to undergo radio/chemo therapy instead?

    3. Will the treatment (removal or radio/chemo therapy) affect my lymph nodes making my edema more severe ? And will the skin graft “stick” at the end ?

    Thank you so much for your feedback,

    Carla.

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  • Replies
      • August 5, 2019 at 5:48 pm
      Edwin
      Participant
      2. I would remove the melanoma.

      3. Radio/chemo/immunotherapy is more likely to affect your lymph nodes. What is the diameter of your melanoma? Why do you need a skin graft? I had two melanomas removed from my skin. I had a skin graft only for the second one. My skin graft has stuck. It sometimes itches a little. The wound from where my skin graft came has healed completely. I can see where the wound was, but I do not feel any problem there.

        • August 7, 2019 at 5:49 pm
        Carla2019
        Participant
        The diameter of my melanoma is 2.5 cm and the doctor told me I will definitely need a skin graft due to the amount of fluids in my leg.

        Thank you so much for your reply and wish you the best.

        Carla.

      • August 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm
      Sdmotorcop
      Participant
      Hi Carla,
      I had a deep melanoma removed from behind my left knee in April. I have a moderate amount of edema in my left leg due to a motorcycle crash that caused a lot of vascular damage. I had to have a sentinel node biopsy done which caused a bit more edema. Prior to excising the melanoma, my surgeon gave me three choices on what to do with the incision site after surgery (wide local excision = 2cm round… think silver dollar)

      1. Leave the incision site open and let it heal naturally .

      2. Pull a flap of skin over the incision (a non starter due to the edema).

      3. Utilize a skin graft (due to the location behind my knee, I would have had to keep it immobilized.. another non starter for me.

      I went with option number 1. It took 2 months for the incision site to heal up completely. I used a special bandage that wicked fluids away from the incision site that was prescribed by my surgeon. I learned that keeping your leg elevated after surgery helped quite a bit

      I don’t know about you, but I trust Medicine / Chemicals only so much. I wanted to get that tumor out of my body. I’ll trust good margins over meds / chemo any day of the week. It sounds like you caught yours early enough so you don’t have to have a sentinel node biopsy done. Good luck with your surgery

        • August 7, 2019 at 5:52 pm
        Carla2019
        Participant
        Hi Bruce,

        According to my treating doctor, only option number 3 will work for me. I guess I have no choice then.

        Than you so much for your reply and for your support.

        Best regards,

        Carla.

      • August 6, 2019 at 5:08 pm
      MelanomaMike
      Participant
      Hi Carla, its sounds like your edema already existed before Melanoma popped up, and youve already expressed that your lympnodes are free and clear of any lesions (thank God) however, i had a 8cm melanoma tumor removed from my right lower lobe of my lung (lymphnodes where NOT affected) and before my Lebectomy, my “left” leg was swollen most the time and after surgery the edema stopped! Not to leave out i had deep Nerve pain throughout my body that also went away after surgery! I mean, depending on how far along your melanoma has grown, if their Tumor type “balls” (solid) they can disrupt Blood flow, thats just what i know through my own experience….Bless your heart Carla, we wish you a VERY speedy recovery of this nasty (can be nasty) cancer!! Keep us posted!
        • August 7, 2019 at 5:55 pm
        Carla2019
        Participant
        Thank you so much for your support and I wish you all the best. I will be seeing my treating doctor next week, so I ll keep you all informed.

        Best regards,

        Carla.

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