Health scare, Cancer diagnosis

December 15th, 2023

 I’m going to make this short, I think! On November 2nd 2023,  I went to a dermatologist to have a sore that would not heal on my left ear. They did a  biopsy  and said to return in 3 weeks but it didn’t look like much of anything. November 20th they called me and I was thinking they were reminding me of my appointment the next day but that was not so, they said my pathology report said I had Melanoma Cancer, Deanna and I went and picked up the report and it included words like Extensive, aggressive, deep, and ulcerated! Eye opener, being told you have a cancer is an experience I wish on no one, it is extremely scary, at the top of the report it was hand written with contact Dr Prater for SLNB ( sentinel lymph node biopsy) and Dr Rivera for Oncology.

I got in to see Dr Prater Dec 2nd on a SATURDAY, that upped the anxiety that the Dr would see me then, he looked at it and told me some options, cut it out and a pretty good piece of my ear and take out the lymph nodes or I could have it removed and just watch to see how it does. We asked what would you do, he said I have done over 10,000 of these and I recommend cut it out and take out the lymph nodes, he thought the prognosis was extremely good with this suggestion, we agreed and asked when, he said 2 weeks.

So I was immediately scheduled for blood tests, MRI of the neck and head, and a cardiologist for clearance for surgery. Got that done in the next 3 days. Surgery was scheduled for December 15th, 2023. 

Surgery was a Friday in Lake Havasu Az, it went well and Dr was pretty confident he got it all, they removed lymph nodes from my neck and glued me back together. We were 100 miles from where we stay in Arizona for the winter but I didn't want to leave the area before we were sure there were no issues from the surgery so we stayed till December 19th (which was my birthday). Dr said it went well and pathology should be back in 5-10 days.

5-10 days turned into 29 anxiety filled scary days, thoughts of them having lost my pathology report due to having received someone else's pathology report on my portal right about at the 10 day period, Anyway I got the report on January 13th on a Saturday that said the biopsy was clear and the margins of the ear sample were also clear. My cancer was classed as a 2A, one step away from needing followup treatment, I contacted the Oncologist and he confirmed I did not need any further treatment! 

I see a dermatologist every 3 months and since have had 2 mole’s that were questionable and a basal cell from my left cheek removed. 

All in all I am good to go but must keep up the followups with dermatologist. There is more to the story but that is the short of it, it is behind us and hopefully never to return.

Here is my warning, wear sunscreen, anything that doesn’t heal in a couple weeks have it checked! I was stupid and let mine go for 8 months! Lucky that it had not spread!.