I was diagnosed with Acral Lentiginous Melanoma in 2010 (Stage 2A), but not on a toe. My melanoma was on the heel of my foot. I wound up with a baseball-sized excision on my heel, extending onto the sole of my foot. I was very concerned how I would be impacted by the loss of that skin…all the way down to the bone. The full-thickness skin graft that I was given had no feeling or sensation, so I wondered how that would impact my ability to stand, walk, run, ski, etc.
In the end, the body is incredibly adaptable. The first time I stood on that foot, after about a month in a wheelchair, it felt so strange…like I was standing on a brick. I could not sense the pressure on my heel and would occasionally stumble. But pretty quickly I began to realize that I could actually feel pressure on my heel, just not in the same way as before. The bone, cartilage, and tissues below my graft still had feeling and my body learned how to make use of that new information in order to stablize my stance and manage my gait.
I believe the same will be true for you. Those things your body learned when you were 1 year of age, as you progressed from crawling to walking, will need to be re-learned. Your muscle memory will be challenged and revised quickly…almost without your conscious knowlege. The body and brain are miraculous in how they make the seemingly impossible so completely commonplace that you will eventually not even give it a second thought.
Best of luck with you lab results and with your recovery!
Mark
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