Beginning the Journey

I guess that my melanoma journey really began years ago, when I started seeing a dermatologist yearly as my parents had been diagnosed with basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers. I used sun screen pretty regularly, and on my kids too! I have been getting a once a year all over skin check from my dermatologist in August of each year. I noticed a mole on my lower calf, maybe it was March or April of 2006. A funny little mole, very black, on one end of it and brown on the other part of it, kind of raised, irregular edges, small though, smaller than a pencil eraser. Hmmm, I thought, well I will see the dermatologist in August, and as I was just there 6 months previously, I just thought it could wait. Figured if I called I wouldn't get in any earlier anyways. Saw the dermatologist 8/29/06 who said she really wasn't sure if the mole was melanoma or not but she removed it and sent it in for a biopsy. Two weeks later about 8:30pm on a Thursday night, she called me with the news....the mole was melanoma cancer. Thin the dermatologist said, it was thin, 1.6mm. She said she would refer me to the surgeon for the wider excision (WLE) procedure and sentinel node biopsy (SNB). Little did I know at the time that in addition to learning I had melanoma cancer that I would learn a whole new language of shorthand terms for melanoma......WLE, SNB, LND, "the beast", warrior,etc. Little did I know the tough part of the journey was beginning. posted by Radiant Suns, 3/14/07