I feel this deserves a permanent place on here, to bring awareness and share my story so others can avoid this and not have to go through what I have gone through. This is an ongoing story as well, so as my story transpires I will update this as well.

So, here is my story….

10•3•22 I had a dermatology appointment to look at some freckles that had changed over the last few months. I went in thinking they would remove them and I would move on with life and be more diligent of getting my skin checked. 

10•6•22 I got a call that the dermatologist wanted me in asap…7am the next morning (they open at 8) I knew this wasn’t good. They had already scheduled my follow up appointment for 2 weeks out…so to need to go in early wasn’t s good thing. We were in Williams, AZ on a staycation so I had to push the appointment until 2pm when we got back. 

10•7•22 I received the news that not just one, but all three spots were melanoma. My dermatologist said he already had my referral in with an oncologist and plastic surgeon…I couldn’t even wrap my head around the word oncologist or what I was just told. I got home and called back the oncologist and scheduled an appointment for Thursday, October 13th. 

10•10•22 I called the plastic surgeon the initial appointment with him was scheduled for Friday, October 14th after my oncology appointment, but as soon as they received my records and diagnosis, they told me they wanted me in the next day Tuesday October 11th. 

10•11•22 I met with my plastic surgeon, he looked at the spots and said we are scheduling you for surgery on Thursday the 13th and also removing a lymph node, and cancel your oncologist appointment, I’ll have a better referral and place for you. 

10•13•22 surgery was scheduled for 11:30am, check in was at 10:30am. 1:07pm I woke up in recovery. They had removed all the cancerous cells on my left arm and a lymph node, the surgeon said we will need to wait for the lab results, but my lymph node looked healthy. 

10•16•22 -today…I’m sharing my story, so no one else has to go through this. Wear sunscreen, read the labels on your products (all of them!) get your skin checked annually 🤍

10.31.22 full body dermatology check up for any more spots that look to be cancerous, there were a few he noticed and noted to keep an eye on. Right after that appointment I had a follow up appointment with my oncologist to go over the surgery, the pathology reports, previous blood testing results and a game plan for what is to come next which was a CT scan. 

11.11.22- Follow up with my surgeon to make sure everything was healing properly, was finally cleared to work out again! Everything was looking great so no more follow ups were needed with my plastic surgeon. 

11.19.22-CT scan, what a weird experience! 

12.5.22- More labs and bloodwork 

12.12.22- Oncology appointment to go over latest bloodwork and CT scan results, unfortunately the results were not what my oncology was hoping to see and came back abnormal around my lymph nodes (I had to have a lymph node removed during surgery the first time around due to the depth of my melanoma spot and how many I had on one area of my body) Due to these results, my oncologist wanted me to schedule an ultrasound for the lymph node area a few weeks later to see if there was any changes. 

*The process of getting an ultrasound scheduled was a complete nightmare! I finally got one scheduled and went back and forth with my oncologist because they required a mammogram also due to the locations of my cancer. I finally gave in and scheduled a mammogram and ultrasound for the end of February.*

1.30.23- I went in for my standard dermo appointment, thinking everything would be good and I was on the road to being cancer free….wrong…two more spots were removed. One on my calve, one on my chest. 

1.31.23- I called my oncologist to loop him in on the latest update, he immediately wanted me to get in for the ultrasound and mammogram, this was one stressful…VERY STRESSFUL week…my husband was traveling, we don’t have family here, nor a reliable babysitter, and here I was trying to schedule a mammogram, and all that kept going through my mind was do I have breast cancer like my mom, did this progress to that point? All mammogram appointments were booked weeks and months out. So my oncologist and his team called around and we finally got a sooner appointment which was an hour drive away but I took it! Then we got a call on Thursday February 2nd, saying there was a cancellation at the facility which was 10 minutes away for Friday February 3rd at 10am! My husband didn’t get home until 10:30am that day from traveling, I took the appointment anyways because I was so worried and stressed out that I had what my mom had that ended up costing her life. We are beyond blessed to have an amazing friend group here, and our neighbor watched the kids until my husband got home so I could go to my appointment. 

2.3.23-mammogram and ultrasound of lymph nodes

2.6.23- follow up oncology appointment to go over all my results, and so blessed and thankful everything came back normal!

2.13.23- dermatologist appointment to go over last 2 spots, one was just a sunspot, the other…melanoma. 

3.6.23- Excision appointment to remove the melanoma from my right calve. 37 minutes of feeling pretty much all of it. Highly do not recommend (I am allergic to Novocain, so they were nervous to lidocaine due to their close relationship and my allergic reaction. So instead they used sodium chloride which only numbs so much)

3.27.23-Stitched from my excision were removed! But also two more suspicious spots…so now we wait for the latest results…

Get your skin checked regularly, read the ingredients and labels on your skincare products, and foods! Certain oils in foods have been linked to skin cancer. Oh the things I have learned throughout this process! And most of all, don’t be afraid of the sun, we need it to be healthy.