I'll keep this short as I can. I've got a hereditary predisposition to skin cancer. I've had pre-cancerous melanoma removed from my back about a year ago, and I had a small sore on the tip of my ear that my dermatologist said not to worry about. Well, it had been there for a year and I recently had a biopsy of it done. Took a while for the doctors to get back to me, and they said that it was in fact cancer. Okay, no big deal, right?
The thing that has me freaked out is that they didn't know what they were looking at, and sent the samples to a medical conference- and no one THERE knew what the hell it was, or what to really do about it. They then sent the samples to UC of san Fransisco and I should be getting a call this week to figure out my next steps. When I asked about if it had metastasized, my doctor said to "take that off of my plate for now" and any other of my questions were just met with her saying stuff like "it's just really abnormal and we don't know what it is, really."
I'm losing my fucking shit here guys. Are any of you in the medical field? It seems like she wanted to tell me more, but couldn't. Am I fucked? How common is it for pathologists to not have any fucking clue what's going on in cases like this? I'd rather not fucking die of skin cancer just yet, I'm in my 20's and I've got shit I wanna do first. I don't normally post on this board so forgive me if this is an inappropriate thread topic. I just could use some reassurance or facts to help me to stop freaking out over the unknown.
Well, Melanoma has a 98 or 99% survival rate, but that's generally due to it being topical so early detection is common. Early detection being the most important factor of cancer survival (especially if surgery is needed). That being said, it's extremely unlikely it has metastasized, as it would have to make its way through your subcutaneous tissue, basement membrane, and into the bloodstream or lymphatic system. I feel this would be more identifiable in a melanoma, also would probably lead to pain while it is occurring. When people say they "don't know what it is", that's not nearly as scary as you think it is, as there are hundreds of types of cancers and they are just unable to fit it into a neat category that already exists.
I really wouldnt be worried, mainly because melanoma isnt a big deal anymore, and you have been aware of it and taken steps to identifying its risk. Overall, i highly doubt this will lower your lifespan, may just be an annoying inconvenience for you
Evan Jenkins
Ill add my knowledge of cancer is very elementary, having just taken 1 upper level class on cancer biology
Nolan Anderson
Alright, that helps a bit. I really don't care if they come to me and say something like "hey, we're gonna need to lop your entire ear off". Good! Do it!
I just worry a little because it's on my ear. That's got a pretty good blood flow and is close to shit like my CNS, brain, etc etc.
I haven't felt any pain anywhere else and there's been no real medical issues that would make me think "hm, that's not usual." So I guess that's good. I just keep jumping to that 18% survival rate if the melanoma has metastasized and my life starts to fucking flash before my eyes. Their reluctance to tell me anything more than the fact that they don't know what it is also has me on edge.
Isaiah Morgan
>I just worry a little because it's on my ear. That's got a pretty good blood flow and is close to shit like my CNS, brain, etc etc. dont worry, it wont just metastasize to your brain or CNS, cancer generally has a preferred environment when it metastasizes and it's usually bone. >I just keep jumping to that 18% survival rate if the melanoma has metastasized and my life starts to fucking flash before my eyes don't be worried about that, all metastatic cancer survival rates are super low, that's stage 4 after all. Don't be worried that they don't "know" what kind of melanoma it is, that really just means they have yet to determine the cell of origin or cannot identify specific markers inherent of certain melanoma types. Be happy they didnt misdiagnose something and treat you for it, that's usually where fuckups occur, like giving steroids to fungal infections.
Jack James
I really appreciate your responses user. It drives me fucking crazy when my doctors say shit like "we have never seen anything like this before" and then refuse to really divulge any further information. I know that usually it's because they don't want to either misdiagnose or wrongly scare the patient or over diagnose or soemthing and it's just to cover their own asses from lawsuit, but I don't know a lot about cancer and so it was pretty fucking spooky to hear that a roomful of pathologists at a medical conference couldn't figure out what the hell it was or what to really do about it.
Levi Sanchez
Let me tl;dr for you:
>doc finds cancer >doc lops it off >new cancer is new and everyone is like "this is cool wow!" >patient has nothing to worry about since the cancer was lopped off
It may be one of those special cases where they can grow it in the lab eternally for doing billion dollar research. From which you'll not see 1 cent.
No problem at all. Many doctors really are not good at empathizing with patients, or forgot the level of knowledge they have that others do not. yea pretty much, although the need for cell lines is much lower now, and they can induce eternal growth now in most cell types. I highly doubt anything like HeLa cells will happen again
Hudson Sanders
you should read "the immortal life of henrietta lacks", very good book
