Someone close to me was recently diagnosed with melanoma. When I heard the news last Friday, it knocked me for a loop. This is the first cancer diagnosis for someone I love that is around my age. (I have acquaintances that have had cancer or older family/friends.) (Receiving this news on Friday was disconcerting as I had just finished reading The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan the night before.)
On Friday, I kept thinking about "X has cancer". All the time---it kept popping into my thoughts. And I the whole range of emotions from hope to despair to "What are my chances of developing melanoma?" (I was a sun-worshipper as well growing up) to the terrible fleeting thought that would pop in and out of my mind---"Not me! Glad it's not me!"
Probably the worst part of all of this is the not knowing. We don't have a lot of information about the cancer. I don't know the staging yet. Nor the prognosis. X had in-office surgery to remove a suspicious growth on his back (the most common spot for melanoma in men, by the way). The doctor cut a lot more than expected and closed him up with 16 stitches. Then the biopsy came back positive for melanoma (the most deadly skin cancer although detected and treated at the earliest staging (IA) the 5 year survival rate is 99% and the 10 year survival rate is 97%). I do know that X will have further surgery on June 23rd to remove additional tissue and margins. The surgeon believes that she will need go down 5 mm to get it all. I'm assuming that X will also have a sentinel lymph node biopsy done at the same time as his surgery although he hasn't been told that yet.
I'm in a much better place emotionally than I was last Friday. X is positive and sounds like himself again.
A few melanoma resources that I've found informative/useful:
Melanoma.com A great place to start. The section about questions to ask your doctor is very helpful.
Melanoma Home Page : National Cancer Institute
Melanoma: The Skin Cancer Foundation
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