New box to check on health history form...

Some of you may have already heard the news in the last week and a half that I was recently diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer. Yes, you read it right. For those of you who don't know until now, sorry for not sharing earlier but we didn't want to worry more people than we had to. Unfortunately for those of you who do already know you probably found out when I was hysterical or nearly there. But, today I received good news...the melanoma was successfully removed! Now, some background storytelling...

Upon moving back to Iowa I started to notice an area on my back that would itch occasionally. I didn't think anything of it at first until finally I was conscious of the scratching and asked a coworker to take a look at what I was scratching. A mole. *little pink flag...not red because they said the mole looked fine* So, a few months go by and the mole still itched every now and again. Still seeking medical opinions of my coworkers to verify all is well...no change. Finally one day I thought, you know, it's been about 9 months since my last check, I should get in to the dermatologist. Now, I know most of you have probably never seen a derm doc before but I've had 4 moles biopsied in the past (all ok) but have a high likelihood of melanoma because my father died at 46 from it. So, I'm a worried wart and get in at least once a year if not every 6 months. The last time I had been in I had a biopsy and then excision of the site due to irregular fast growing cells (precancerous, but not cancer...confusing, I know). So my thoughts were, hey stupid, get to the doc when this itching thing continued.

Sorry for all the background, but here's more:

So, finally make it in, get a biopsy although both staff and resident agree the mole looks fine, just irritated, and I quote "doesn't look like melanoma so don't worry." So, I left and forgot about it. Until a week later (9/29) I get a call from the staff doc and he tells me I have melanoma. Of course shock sets in and my nursing knowledge flies out the window and I can't ask one single educated question before I thanked the doc then hung up. Then of course broke down. All I had heard was melanoma, most serious form of skin cancer, and needing surgery soon and the words kept circling in my head. My appointment was two weeks ago this Thursday to remove (hopefully) all the melanoma remaining. They took 1 cm on either side of the mole (an inch total in width) and cut 4 inches in length.

Now, I have a very tight incision on my back that makes it a little hard to bend, turn, stretch, but am otherwise ok. And now that I know they got all the cancer cells I'm feeling pretty good about that too. I now have to go in every 3 months for a year then every 6 after that-if no more angry cells.

So, I'm sorry to keep nearly everyone out of the loop, but I wanted to hopefully deliver good news on the cancer front instead of just increasing the worries of all our readers. For those of you who did know, I am very thankful for all your prayers and concerns and love and support. I'm truly blessed to have caught this cancer very very very early before it had spread.