Anyone heard of Melanoma? - Page 2

witchcurlgirl · March 14th, 2008, 08:03 PM

^^ My grandfather died of malignant melanoma as well. My grandmother had passed away a few years earlier, and no one had seen a mole on his back. He was at my house helping me do something when I noticed it bleeding on his shirt a bit. He went and had it looked at, but it was way too late.

Please always have anything on your body looked at.

ariesallover · March 15th, 2008, 09:25 AM

My mom had it in '04. I spotted it on her and pitched a fit to get her to a doctor. The biopsy confirmed what I thought it was. She had surgery with an oncologist. Then she consulted another oncologist to determine if it had spread anywhere. None.

She has been followed ever since then, and there is no sign of the cancer. She didn't need chemo or radiation because it was caught early. In fact, there had been hardly any mitosis. It pays to be compulsive lol.

In other words, apart from the surgery, her life was not adversely affected, and she's fine.

qwerty · March 15th, 2008, 10:04 AM

^^Aries. Glad that your mom is doing well. Thankfully, it was caught early.

As I said before, people, do not fool around with this. It's really nasty if not caught in time.

Witchcurl, sorry about your grandfather.

witchcurlgirl · March 15th, 2008, 10:08 AM

Qwerty, I'm sorry about your dad.

Please people, have anything suspicious checked.

munchie356 · March 24th, 2008, 12:11 PM

Hi, I had a mole on my neck that was small very small with no signs of anything that you should check for -change of shape, bleeding etc., but when at doctor's they recommended that a dermatologist have a look at it, this was in October 2004, I had my appointment with the dermatologist on a thursday and was in at the surgeon on the Friday having it removed, it was malignant melonana, but was all removed, however because of the location of the mole they had to do a skin flap on my neck. I was never a sun worshipper at all, being Irish and really fair skinned. I have had a second surgery in the same location about a month ago where they removed more lesions from the area and they have all come back as negative.

I was shocked when the first diagnosis came through as there was no history of this in my family, consequently I am in the dermatologist every 6 months for a thorough check up, where every inch of my skin is checked, I have to ensure that I cover up in the sun, which is not a problem in Ireland, but have to wear factor 50 on all exposed areas of my skin 365 days of the year.

It is not a pleasant thing to be told that you have cancer, but if caught in time, which thank god mine was, you are able to have a good life with no major changes to it apart from what I mentioned above.

I must say it is a soap box for me kow where I work as I always ask my work colleagues as soon as the sun is out and they are out in it if they want some sun protection, am known as the sun factor queen at work, always have a bottle on my desk and in my bag for topping up my sun protection.

always no matter what get your skin checked at least once a year or have your doctor check it out and explain and note where your moles are so that you can check them yourself.

sorry this turned into such a long post.

McJag · March 24th, 2008, 12:16 PM

I don't think any of us that have been touched by this vicious stuff can preach enough! You can be young and healthy and die so fast. Pay attention!

qwerty · March 24th, 2008, 02:01 PM

I was reading recently that sun overexposure may not be only to blame with melanoma. An improper Omega 6:3 oil ratio (meaning too much Omega 6's) in the diet may be a contributing factor as well. Don't know if it's true but it wouldn't hurt to minimize saturated, polyunsaturated and hydrogenated oils in favor of olive and fish or flax oil in the diet. That's good diet advice period.

ariesallover · March 24th, 2008, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwerty

I was reading recently that sun overexposure may not be only to blame with melanoma. An improper Omega 6:3 oil ratio (meaning too much Omega 6's) in the diet may be a contributing factor as well. Don't know if it's true but it wouldn't hurt to minimize saturated and hydrogenated oils in favor of olive and fish or flax oil in the diet. That's good diet advice period.

Omega 3's are the good ones (fish and walnut oils), and Omega 6's are the bad ones (fried foods)?

Dixie Normos · March 24th, 2008, 07:03 PM

Oh sure, tell me this AFTER I've eaten my friench fries.

qwerty · March 24th, 2008, 07:37 PM

Aries, yes you know your fats. Add sunflower, safflower, corn, cottonseed, and soybean oils to the Omega 6 list. We need Omega 6's - it's just that we eat too much relative to Omega 3's. Cutting down on processed food will help lower Omega 6 intake.

ariesallover · March 27th, 2008, 10:53 AM

Fanks, qwerty.

SweetPea · March 27th, 2008, 12:05 PM

My uncle had a mole on the bottom of his foot and had it looked at. They had to remove it to check it and turned out to be malignant. They then wanted to remove his leg and he couldn't see living without his leg so he refused. Well it spread quite quickly and he died. This was in 1968 and he was 42 years old. It was not from the sun.

My friends husband had a mole on his shoulder. He didn't even know it was there until one day it started oozing. Went and got it checked and removed. It was malignant and he started treatments and made it to his 30th birthday. His daughter was only a year old and he knew she wouldn't remember him. So he made a tape of himself doing all sorts of things and after he passed away that movie came out "My Life" and brought back all memories of him. The many pictures of him as a kid are of him in the sun burnt and looking like a lobster. That was from the sun.

So the point is to watch them all. Under the foot, on the back, and even places you would never think to look. Places the sun doesn't even see.