my story and wondering if anyone has info on this new study

Perhaps I'm reading the study incorrectly, but it doesn't appear to be anything new…those with higher risk lesions tend to recur earlier, those who recur later can be those who did not have higher risk lesions ( thin and nonulcerated) which is the same information represented in the overall statistics given for Stage1 Melanomas. There will be percentage that recur- no 100% clear rhyme or reason. That's just the way it is and this is the part of (any) cancer survivorship

Perhaps I'm reading the study incorrectly, but it doesn't appear to be anything new…those with higher risk lesions tend to recur earlier, those who recur later can be those who did not have higher risk lesions ( thin and nonulcerated) which is the same information represented in the overall statistics given for Stage1 Melanomas. There will be percentage that recur- no 100% clear rhyme or reason. That's just the way it is and this is the part of (any) cancer survivorship

Perhaps I'm reading the study incorrectly, but it doesn't appear to be anything new…those with higher risk lesions tend to recur earlier, those who recur later can be those who did not have higher risk lesions ( thin and nonulcerated) which is the same information represented in the overall statistics given for Stage1 Melanomas. There will be percentage that recur- no 100% clear rhyme or reason. That's just the way it is and this is the part of (any) cancer survivorship

Hi there – first off, happy to hear they have taken care of your melanoma. Unfortunately I don't fully understand your pathology report. I will share, however, my thoughts – not to scare you but to hopefully educate you and ensure this doesn't happen to you. My husband had melanoma 18 years ago – Stage 1. Every year he followed up with his dermatologist who assured him he was fine. When he found a lump under his right arm pit in September 2012, he went to his dermatologist concerned it was cancer. The dermatologist assured him he was fine. But my husband knew something was wrong. He got an appointment with a surgical oncologist who immediately upon hearing my husband's story of melanoma and felt the lump said it was the melanoma that had returned. He subsequently had that and 30 other lymph nodes taken out, 11 of which were positive for melanoma. He was diagnosed Stage 3C, just in May, his melanoma returned as a tumor at his spinal cord. He's now Stage 4. Again, not to scare you, but this is my message: if you've had melanoma CONTINUE to be monitored. DEMAND appropriate tests (CT, MRI, PET) at certain intervals. Take that study with you and say you want to be monitored. Listen to your intuitition – thank god my husband did. I only wish I had learned more about the disease and been the nervous nelly that had suggested my husband had tests earlier to have caught the melanoma's return before it had spread so much. I was very happy to have seen this study and hopefully it educates people to be followed up for life. Hopefully it never returns … but if, god forbid, it does … you can catch it earlier. Best of luck to you!

Hi there – first off, happy to hear they have taken care of your melanoma. Unfortunately I don't fully understand your pathology report. I will share, however, my thoughts – not to scare you but to hopefully educate you and ensure this doesn't happen to you. My husband had melanoma 18 years ago – Stage 1. Every year he followed up with his dermatologist who assured him he was fine. When he found a lump under his right arm pit in September 2012, he went to his dermatologist concerned it was cancer. The dermatologist assured him he was fine. But my husband knew something was wrong. He got an appointment with a surgical oncologist who immediately upon hearing my husband's story of melanoma and felt the lump said it was the melanoma that had returned. He subsequently had that and 30 other lymph nodes taken out, 11 of which were positive for melanoma. He was diagnosed Stage 3C, just in May, his melanoma returned as a tumor at his spinal cord. He's now Stage 4. Again, not to scare you, but this is my message: if you've had melanoma CONTINUE to be monitored. DEMAND appropriate tests (CT, MRI, PET) at certain intervals. Take that study with you and say you want to be monitored. Listen to your intuitition – thank god my husband did. I only wish I had learned more about the disease and been the nervous nelly that had suggested my husband had tests earlier to have caught the melanoma's return before it had spread so much. I was very happy to have seen this study and hopefully it educates people to be followed up for life. Hopefully it never returns … but if, god forbid, it does … you can catch it earlier. Best of luck to you!

Hi there – first off, happy to hear they have taken care of your melanoma. Unfortunately I don't fully understand your pathology report. I will share, however, my thoughts – not to scare you but to hopefully educate you and ensure this doesn't happen to you. My husband had melanoma 18 years ago – Stage 1. Every year he followed up with his dermatologist who assured him he was fine. When he found a lump under his right arm pit in September 2012, he went to his dermatologist concerned it was cancer. The dermatologist assured him he was fine. But my husband knew something was wrong. He got an appointment with a surgical oncologist who immediately upon hearing my husband's story of melanoma and felt the lump said it was the melanoma that had returned. He subsequently had that and 30 other lymph nodes taken out, 11 of which were positive for melanoma. He was diagnosed Stage 3C, just in May, his melanoma returned as a tumor at his spinal cord. He's now Stage 4. Again, not to scare you, but this is my message: if you've had melanoma CONTINUE to be monitored. DEMAND appropriate tests (CT, MRI, PET) at certain intervals. Take that study with you and say you want to be monitored. Listen to your intuitition – thank god my husband did. I only wish I had learned more about the disease and been the nervous nelly that had suggested my husband had tests earlier to have caught the melanoma's return before it had spread so much. I was very happy to have seen this study and hopefully it educates people to be followed up for life. Hopefully it never returns … but if, god forbid, it does … you can catch it earlier. Best of luck to you!

I'm a different Anonymous than the poster, but that story is exactly what scares the heck out of me as a Stage I patient

I'm a different Anonymous than the poster, but that story is exactly what scares the heck out of me as a Stage I patient

I'm a different Anonymous than the poster, but that story is exactly what scares the heck out of me as a Stage I patient

I haven't had time to look at the study you posted, but your pathology looks extremely low risk stage IA.  Easy to say, but I honestly wouldn't be wasting any time worrying about it.  First, it helps nothing, and second, it's unlikely you'll ever experience a recurrence from this lesion.  Why waste time worrying when you could be doing much more productive things?!?!???

The other thing I might suggest is staying off this site.  Most people like you, a year and a half after diagnosis from an early stage lesion, have moved on.  You see those that recur, you don't see the vast majority of success stories.  This place is really more geared to newly diagnosed and those actively fighting melanoma.  I think you might ease your anxiety and worrying a bit if you could move your focus away from a site like this.  It's a great place if you have questions, but it will never give you a realistic view of people who are stage IA.

Best wishes,

Janner

I haven't had time to look at the study you posted, but your pathology looks extremely low risk stage IA.  Easy to say, but I honestly wouldn't be wasting any time worrying about it.  First, it helps nothing, and second, it's unlikely you'll ever experience a recurrence from this lesion.  Why waste time worrying when you could be doing much more productive things?!?!???

The other thing I might suggest is staying off this site.  Most people like you, a year and a half after diagnosis from an early stage lesion, have moved on.  You see those that recur, you don't see the vast majority of success stories.  This place is really more geared to newly diagnosed and those actively fighting melanoma.  I think you might ease your anxiety and worrying a bit if you could move your focus away from a site like this.  It's a great place if you have questions, but it will never give you a realistic view of people who are stage IA.

Best wishes,

Janner

I haven't had time to look at the study you posted, but your pathology looks extremely low risk stage IA.  Easy to say, but I honestly wouldn't be wasting any time worrying about it.  First, it helps nothing, and second, it's unlikely you'll ever experience a recurrence from this lesion.  Why waste time worrying when you could be doing much more productive things?!?!???

The other thing I might suggest is staying off this site.  Most people like you, a year and a half after diagnosis from an early stage lesion, have moved on.  You see those that recur, you don't see the vast majority of success stories.  This place is really more geared to newly diagnosed and those actively fighting melanoma.  I think you might ease your anxiety and worrying a bit if you could move your focus away from a site like this.  It's a great place if you have questions, but it will never give you a realistic view of people who are stage IA.

Best wishes,

Janner

I was also recently diagnosed level II, stage 1A, .8mm deep, non ulcerated…. I worried myself into a depressed state, wondering about all the 'what if's"…. Sometimes all it takes is that one person to give their honest human advice, to make a world of difference in what you feel… That one person for me, was my primary care physician. He was there when i was born, he was there for the first biopsy just this past April, and after a full excision, and a wide excision with a skin graft, they still didnt get it all, so im due for another surgery… I hadnt received an actual depth on any of my path reports up until this most recent one. .8mm…Borderline concerning to me.  However, this lesion was so "histologically difficult and borderline in nature" between severe atypia and and the differential diagnosis of malignant melanoma, I was wondering if they were taking all the necessary precautions if it were in fact the latter of the two…. I hadn't returned to my primary doc since the original biopsy, and i value his opinion, so I wanted to see him before I went through with this next surgery to make sure it was absolutely necessary…..He started by weighing out the pros and cons to continuing with surgery until we get it all… He said absolutely go ahead with it, however not to worry about anything else in the meantime. If it were going to spread, it would have, and it also wouldnt have been such a low risk lesion, low stage, thin, no mitotic rate… It would have been big and obvious, and there would be much less question about it. Just clean margins alone would be so very reassuring…. SO, with that said, if yours is gone, and you have clean margins, and no other symptoms, just keep an eye on yourself. You know your body better than anyone, but as far as standard of care for these stage 1 melanomas, you and I are being taken care of.  If you need your own honest human opinion, go to someone whose opinion you value. whose word you trust. And that will be all you need. 🙂 Best wishes and good luck.

I was also recently diagnosed level II, stage 1A, .8mm deep, non ulcerated…. I worried myself into a depressed state, wondering about all the 'what if's"…. Sometimes all it takes is that one person to give their honest human advice, to make a world of difference in what you feel… That one person for me, was my primary care physician. He was there when i was born, he was there for the first biopsy just this past April, and after a full excision, and a wide excision with a skin graft, they still didnt get it all, so im due for another surgery… I hadnt received an actual depth on any of my path reports up until this most recent one. .8mm…Borderline concerning to me.  However, this lesion was so "histologically difficult and borderline in nature" between severe atypia and and the differential diagnosis of malignant melanoma, I was wondering if they were taking all the necessary precautions if it were in fact the latter of the two…. I hadn't returned to my primary doc since the original biopsy, and i value his opinion, so I wanted to see him before I went through with this next surgery to make sure it was absolutely necessary…..He started by weighing out the pros and cons to continuing with surgery until we get it all… He said absolutely go ahead with it, however not to worry about anything else in the meantime. If it were going to spread, it would have, and it also wouldnt have been such a low risk lesion, low stage, thin, no mitotic rate… It would have been big and obvious, and there would be much less question about it. Just clean margins alone would be so very reassuring…. SO, with that said, if yours is gone, and you have clean margins, and no other symptoms, just keep an eye on yourself. You know your body better than anyone, but as far as standard of care for these stage 1 melanomas, you and I are being taken care of.  If you need your own honest human opinion, go to someone whose opinion you value. whose word you trust. And that will be all you need. 🙂 Best wishes and good luck.

I was also recently diagnosed level II, stage 1A, .8mm deep, non ulcerated…. I worried myself into a depressed state, wondering about all the 'what if's"…. Sometimes all it takes is that one person to give their honest human advice, to make a world of difference in what you feel… That one person for me, was my primary care physician. He was there when i was born, he was there for the first biopsy just this past April, and after a full excision, and a wide excision with a skin graft, they still didnt get it all, so im due for another surgery… I hadnt received an actual depth on any of my path reports up until this most recent one. .8mm…Borderline concerning to me.  However, this lesion was so "histologically difficult and borderline in nature" between severe atypia and and the differential diagnosis of malignant melanoma, I was wondering if they were taking all the necessary precautions if it were in fact the latter of the two…. I hadn't returned to my primary doc since the original biopsy, and i value his opinion, so I wanted to see him before I went through with this next surgery to make sure it was absolutely necessary…..He started by weighing out the pros and cons to continuing with surgery until we get it all… He said absolutely go ahead with it, however not to worry about anything else in the meantime. If it were going to spread, it would have, and it also wouldnt have been such a low risk lesion, low stage, thin, no mitotic rate… It would have been big and obvious, and there would be much less question about it. Just clean margins alone would be so very reassuring…. SO, with that said, if yours is gone, and you have clean margins, and no other symptoms, just keep an eye on yourself. You know your body better than anyone, but as far as standard of care for these stage 1 melanomas, you and I are being taken care of.  If you need your own honest human opinion, go to someone whose opinion you value. whose word you trust. And that will be all you need. 🙂 Best wishes and good luck.

Stage 1A cannot be more than 1mm, but stage IB can be up to 2mm.  Stage II starts at 2.01mm or sooner if you have ulceration.

Stage 1A cannot be more than 1mm, but stage IB can be up to 2mm.  Stage II starts at 2.01mm or sooner if you have ulceration.

Stage 1A cannot be more than 1mm, but stage IB can be up to 2mm.  Stage II starts at 2.01mm or sooner if you have ulceration.