Newly dx’d – had flap surgery

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Newly dx’d – had flap surgery

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    • September 6, 2017 at 11:46 pm
    Chelle White
    Participant
      No staging yet. Saw dermatologist end of June – sent to Plastic Surgeon 5 weeks later – thought I was getting them removed then -nope just a pre-appointment. Cried so he biopsied one – 2 weeks later went for follow up and path report came back as .55, level 3, mitotic rate 1 – scheduled flap surgery for 9/5. While waiting for surgery called reg physician for my questions – never heard back. Called derm – she explained we wish to see insitsu but mine was level 3 in testicular. Asked her what I need to do – she said I’ll need to make appt with oncologist once the surgery takes pla e and pathology report comes back.
      Went and called an oncology center telling them my surgery wasn’t until 9/5 So they scheduled an appt for 9/21.
      There’s been no blood work and I didn’t have any biopsy or that dye thing with a lymph node.
      I feel lost – what am I missing? What should I be doing? What should I be asking? I feel like this has been going on too long without answers.
      I go on Friday for bandage changes. Haven’t had to use my rx’d painkillers. Slightly uncomfortable but not horrendous.
      Thank you.
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        • September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am
        jennunicorn
        Participant

          I am not sure why the derm told you to schedule with an oncologist. At .55mm depth and low mitotic rate, you're looking at stage 1A or 1B, very low risk lesion that would only require the surgery that you had yesterday, would not require lymph node biopsy or anything further than regular dermatology visits for skin checks. If there is a lot more of the lesion that comes back from this surgery pathology report, then maybe I can see why they'd mention an oncologist. But, at this point, you've had the WLE, you can't go back and do the lymph node biopsy retroactively with good accuracy. Most standard protocol for doing a lymph node biopsy starts with the lesion being 1.00mm (other factors can come into play as to why they would do it with a smaller lesion, but majority around 1mm and up). It would be unusual if they found another .50mm from this WLE surgery, so I wouldn't worry too much. You have done all you can for now, try not to stress too much and don't worry about the level 3 part, most places don't even use that as it's a bit outdated, the .55mm depth is a more important factor. 

            • September 7, 2017 at 3:12 am
            Chelle White
            Participant
              Thank you. So much goes through my mind. I appreciate the information you shared with me
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