As it could be upsetting to some.

Some time back, I posted about having a mole removed from my back and finding out it was melanoma. So, after seeing an oncological surgeon, she sent me for a PET scan. My PET scan came back negative, which was of course great news - but there was of course the fact that my mole still tested out as stage four melanoma. After the PET scan, this was reclassed to stage three based on the results of the scan.

However, due to the fact that the growth was vertical, the oncologist was worried about how deep it went - so she scheduled me for surgery. First, my back was injected with radioactive dye which was then tracked to see which lymph nodes were involved - which turned out to be the right side of my neck. Then I was off to the operating room, and two and a half hours later, she had removed two lymph nodes from my neck, and about a four inch diameter section of my back three levels of tissue deep. My back was pulled back together and sewn up, leaving about a six or seven inch incision on my back - see the photo.

Now I have to wait for the pathology results on the tissue and the lymph nodes - which hopefully comes back negative as well. If that happens, then it gets reclassed as stage two, and I simply have to be checked every three months for at least the next two years for more melanoma. Oh yeah, and slather on sun block whenever I am outside.

If it comes back positive, then we move on to more treatment.