Hi Amanda,
I’m in a very similar situation as you. My melanoma was first diagnosed last year when I was 8 months pregnant. Had it removed from my back shoulder and was told a SLNB was not possible because of the pregnancy and that it would be pointless later on. Fast forward to January of this year and I went to a new derm due to a scheduling issue and found out that the original WLE didn’t actually have the appropriate margins. I should have had a 1cm minimum margin but only had a 0.5mm. Since I was having a re-excision anyways I asked about the biopsy and was referred to a medical oncologist. In late February I had the re-excision as well as 4 lymph nodes removed. Results showed metastases and now I am currently stage 3a.
My baby is not even 1 year old yet and I’m going to be starting targeted therapy within the next couple of weeks. The meds are being delivered to my house tomorrow and I spoke with the pharmacist for almost 45 minutes today about all of the instructions and storage and side effects and quite honestly, I am terrified. I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I don’t know how much more I can handle. After battling postpartum depression after my daughter was born, I had multiple complications with my son that resulted in an emergency c-section and a med-flight to the NICU. Four months later, my son joined my daughter at daycare for the start of the school year but we pulled them both after one month – we found out through a nightmare scenario that my son had a broken arm due to abuse and neglect he was suffering at the daycare. I am now a stay at home mom, we are down to one income, and now trying to figure out how to navigate my treatment.
I realized I deviated a bit here but I need to know that other moms have pushed through and survived. So thank you to those of you who have shared your stories and Amanda, if you want to cry together you let me know
Jess
