Update on my melanoma.
I just met the surgeon who is going to remove the melanoma from my face. He said I have an aggressive form of melanoma that is very unusually. There were no warning signs. It was discovered by accident. I had a small cyst removed from my cheek bone. The cyst was tested and it was normal. Soon afterwards the doctor had to go back in to remove some scar tissue. The scar tissue tested positive for melanoma.
The doctor said the cyst and the melanoma are not connected, it was a coincidence. Usually a flat dark spot will form on your skin when you get melanoma. I had no warning.
In a couple of weeks they are going to cut out the melanoma, which is in a bad spot right below my eye. They are going to give some type of scan to see if it has spread. That's the key, if it hasn't spread I could live many more years. If it has spread I will be in trouble.
I asked him if my face will be deformed because they are going to have to cut out a pretty big section of my face. He said, this is what I do for living and I'm good at it. He said it will look bad for a while, but over time my face will look fairly normal.
All of the doctors are calling this very unusual. I joke with them saying, I have always been an unusual guy. 
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Your post touched my heart ❤️ 
on with the healing from the surgery.
Glad it helped & that your surgrry was successful!
and complete recovery!
Take good care & best wishes!
Good thoughts and vibes on the way.
But do ask them to have it done sooner. Two weeks is a long time to wait and worry if it is as aggressive as they are saying.
All the best and do keep us posted.
at first they took the spot off my back, about an inch across. They tested that, then had me back in to remove a hand-sized patch of skin off my back.
Fortunately, the edges of that were clean and I never had to go back. That was 20 some years ago. Hell, I didn't even need chemo or any other treatment. I do go back for a dermatologist check annually. Check that, at my last visit they said come back in two years.
I keep an eye on my skin these days and I avoid the sun for the most part, but I had it pretty easy. I hope yours goes as well.
It’s called amelanotic melanoma and shows up as pink. It was first diagnosed as a rash by a primary care doctor. It never went away, so a few months later I looked at it under a magnifying glass and it had scales on it. I went to a dermatologist who also didn’t think it was melanoma but he took it out to be sure. When I got the call at my work a week later, I almost passed out.
The doctor cleared his schedule and they had me in the office in one week. I went through a wide local excision but the pathology showed the cells were too close to the margins. I was turned over to an oncological surgeon who did the surgery in the hospital. It was stage 1, but getting close to stage 2. It was on my left arm and is called “left-sided melanoma” which was attributed to driving for 37 years in the hot California sun beating down on my arm through the window.
The whole episode shared the shit out of me, but I never needed any treatment after that. Given that I was cut into twice, it left a hell of a scar, but I consider it a battle scar.
That said, do try to see if they can get you in earlier. I don’t think you need the extra stress of waiting for more than is necessary. And, I might add, even on the 16 years that have passed, they’re made even more advances in treating melanoma. My very best wishes to you, FF.
and no further treatment needed.
I'm 11 days out from the treatment phase of my own yearlong cancer journey. Mine was unusual in that it was a recurrence after 15 yrs and in a place that was only detected by accident. I was shocked with the diagnosis as were the drs involved. The best advice I can give in getting through it is to choose a care team that you trust and feel comfortable with and look at each step as a process you need to get through to make it back to full health. Sometimes those steps were broken down into the smallest of steps, but I felt if I looked at it that way, I kept moving forward. I spent a year saying "I just need to get through this next appt (next few hours, next week, next cycle, etc.) -- But it got me through it all.
Sending the most positive thoughts and prayers your way!
Since you are unusual you will have an unusually fast recovery!
Heal well. It sounds like you have an attitude that could only help.