Scott Smith
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- Sep 5, 2002
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I've been holding off sharing this information, until I had a clearer picture of where things were headed for me. Now, armed with a better understanding of my health status I'd like to share with you folks the very scary last couple months I've been enduring.
I finally took notice of a dark spot on my forehead a couple of months ago. I'd had it for approx a year, but kept shrugging it off as nothing. It was no bigger than a pencil eraser. My wife, God bless her, finally motivated me to have it looked at. I visited my primary care physician, who immediately referred me to a plastic surgeon. Neither would commit to what it could be until it was removed and biopsied. I recieved the results last week, confirming my worst fears that it was melanoma. The growth was removed in its entirety with clean margins, however I will be having my second surgery tomorrow to increase the clean margins to 1 centimeter on all sides. There are 4 stages of melanoma, and mine was categorized as a phase 1 (thickness being less than 1 mm, mine was .39). The recovery rate for this category is 99%, however I still must go see an Oncoligist to check for the slight chance that it invaded other parts of my body.
I am still very frightened by this whole ordeal, it does'nt help that I've always had a glass half empty kind of outlook on life.
I've been informed that I am now 600 to 900 times more likely to have a reoccurence than the average person. I've been informed to avoid the sun if possible and to wear long sleeves and pants when fishing along with a hat and sunscreen. I'm also looking at the possibilty of visiting the Dermotoligist every 6 to 12 months for the rest of my life.
So wear your sunscreen, all year, I never started doing it religiously until about a year ago. How foolish of me...!!! I nearly paid for my stupidity with my life..!! I'm not out of the woods yet, but feeling much better after talking with my Dr. today.
Wish me luck in surgery tomorrow...!!!
I finally took notice of a dark spot on my forehead a couple of months ago. I'd had it for approx a year, but kept shrugging it off as nothing. It was no bigger than a pencil eraser. My wife, God bless her, finally motivated me to have it looked at. I visited my primary care physician, who immediately referred me to a plastic surgeon. Neither would commit to what it could be until it was removed and biopsied. I recieved the results last week, confirming my worst fears that it was melanoma. The growth was removed in its entirety with clean margins, however I will be having my second surgery tomorrow to increase the clean margins to 1 centimeter on all sides. There are 4 stages of melanoma, and mine was categorized as a phase 1 (thickness being less than 1 mm, mine was .39). The recovery rate for this category is 99%, however I still must go see an Oncoligist to check for the slight chance that it invaded other parts of my body.
I am still very frightened by this whole ordeal, it does'nt help that I've always had a glass half empty kind of outlook on life.
I've been informed that I am now 600 to 900 times more likely to have a reoccurence than the average person. I've been informed to avoid the sun if possible and to wear long sleeves and pants when fishing along with a hat and sunscreen. I'm also looking at the possibilty of visiting the Dermotoligist every 6 to 12 months for the rest of my life.
So wear your sunscreen, all year, I never started doing it religiously until about a year ago. How foolish of me...!!! I nearly paid for my stupidity with my life..!! I'm not out of the woods yet, but feeling much better after talking with my Dr. today.
Wish me luck in surgery tomorrow...!!!
