Questions
I, 36F, felt a bump on the back of my left shoulder about 5 months ago. I thought it was a small cyst that would go away (perimenopause is fun and I've had cystic hormonal acne for a couple of years now). After about a month it was larger than any other cyst and I realized I was going to need it removed by a dermatologist. It took me about 3 months to find a dermatologist who would look at my cyst. By that time it was the size of a very large blueberry if not bigger. I scheduled to have it removed 10 days after my consultation.
It was removed on June 7 and the dermatologist said it wasn't a cyst, but that it was an angiolipoma that was so deep that it was up against the fascia. I took a picture of it in its little specimen jar and went on my way. You can imagine the gut punch on June 18 when I got a call stating that the pathology report showed it was metastatic melanoma.
I went in for a full body exam the next day. The did a shave biopsy of my "sketchy mole" I've been keeping an eye on for as long as I can remember. The mole is like 4 inches below the tumor. June 26 I had an appointment with a surgical oncologist. He did another full body exam and checked all of my lymph nodes. I'm scheduled for a WLE of both sites and removal of any affected lymph nodes. He said I might not even need immunotherapy...but I thought that sounded too optimistic.
June 27 the pathology report for the shave biopsy came back as melanoma. It said it was an atypical nevis. I took a shower before going to bed and felt something weird when I raised my right arm. I looked an there was a yellow bruise about 1.5 cm in diameter over my right axilla lymph nodes. I touched and felt a lump. Crap. I messaged the surgical oncologist about the lump and sent a photo. He reviewed the information and the new pathology report. He said that the fact that the primary site is an atypical nevis is promising.
Today (June 30) I had a CT/PET scan and am impatiently awaiting the results.
Here are my questions:
I looked into the bruising over the lump and found that it may be something called sentinel bruising, which is astronomically rare. I'm talking less than a dozen cases worldwide. Does anyone have experience with this?
I live in New Mexico. It's not that I don't trust providers here, but I don't trust them with anything important. It took me over 20 years and multiple surgeries to finally be diagnosed with hip dysplasia (that chapter was supposed to close in mid-July when I had my second hip corrected, but that got postponed due to my diagnosis). I contacted MD Anderson when I got my diagnosis and they requested that I send them all of my records and contact them after my July 8 surgery because they won't review anything until I've stopped receiving treatment from other providers. Does anyone have experience with MD Anderson? What are my odds of being accepted as a patient?
This is a tough one. What can I expect going forward?
Thank you guys!