Hey All,
Just had a melanoma in-situ removed from my calf.
Now the doc recommends the removal of a larger area to be of the safe side.
Not looking forward to the downtime while it heals up.
Anyone ever had one? Looks like the cure rate is pretty high.
Any tips on precautions going forward?
Thanks Friends.
Hey Chris,
Sorry to hear about the melanoma.
I had melanoma cancer removed from my calf a few years ago. I had the wide local excision surgery. The good news is that if you get it early it is VERY treatable and the survival rate is in the 98%+ range when caught early. The recovery time for me was a few weeks. In my case, there was no residual impact other than a scar on my leg (which I like to tell people at ocean swims is a shark bite 
).
As for precautions going forward, limiting sun exposure and sunblock is key. There are numerous threads as to what people like. I use either Neutrogena or Bullfrog, each of which was recommended by my dermatologist. Also, for long training and racing in the sun, I highly recommend the DeSoto skin cooler arm and leg coolers as a great supplement to sunblock. They provide excellent coverage and sun protection (DeSoto recommends you wear them with sunblock) and they do actually keep you cooler on hot days.
It is crucial that you go for regular skin exams with your dermatologist, as early detection is the most critical component to beating melanoma cancer. The first two years after my surgery, I went quarterly. Now I go 3x per year. You should also be vigilant about examining yourself. If you see anything that doesn’t look right to you, get it checked.
I wish you best of luck with your recovery. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.
Had the same thing done almost 2yrs ago but mine was behind my ear. Had the same initial treatment and I’m following the same precautionary protocols that katzbike passed along to you. My skin doc told me that my body has proven it knows how to make melanoma so its important to be observant of any spots that look out of the ordinary and keep up with regular derm exams. Also, if you have kids, they should be more diligent as well and get checked periodically.
Sounds like you caught it early. Good luck with recovery.
I had one removed from my right calf back in the Fall. Same deal…they went back in to remove more. They also took some lymph nodes out from behind the knee and in the groin to make sure it hadn’t spread.
The melanoma site is completely healed but I’ve had some issues with the lymph node removal including an infection that required a 2nd surgery. I’m almost back to normal and looking forward to getting back at it next week for the 1st time in almost 3 months.
My only tip…give it time to heal. Don’t push it. Good luck with recovery.
I’ll echo what others have said. I have had two in situ removed from my forearm and numerous other suspicious spots removed that usually turned out to be cancerous. My doc said lighter haired, blue eyed people with fairer skin are the most susceptible. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that melanoma, if not detected early, can be VERY serious. We’re talking death, here. I don’t want to scare the crap out of you, but once you have found one, you really need to be extra vigilant. You need to be going back every 3 months or so. Have your wife or girlfriend look over your back every once in a while. I found that it was difficult to remember which spots on my skin were moles, birthmarks, big freckles, or whatever as opposed to new possible melanomas. So, it helps to take numerous pictures of your skin for reference.
The two spots that appeared on my arm seemed to appear almost overnight. I called my dermatologist because they looked suspicious and got an appointment about four weeks out. Didn’t think anything of it. When I got there, he said we needed to schedule the surgery right away. Went back the next day and did it, then had to go back the following week because one of the pieces of tissue still had cancerous cells around the perimeter as noted by the lab. Doc really lectured me over that. He said that was a close call for me.
Good luck with your recovery. I didn’t really have much downtime. It was a very localized wound that didn’t affect my riding, etc.
Greg
All of the above. I’ve had three setbacks from training due to excisions over the last 15 months or so. The biggest thing with regard to training was having to stay out of the water for a few weeks at a time. Other than that, I was back running and biking almost immediately.
As others have pointed out, melanoma can be pretty deadly if not caught early…once it gets more than a few mm deep, survival rate is not overly optimistic. I once asked my dermatologist what happens to her patients with melanoma 3+ mm deep upon diagnosis. Her response? Usually fatal within 18 months. Shit is serious.
Stay on top of your dermatologist visits (like you would a dentist)…I’ve been to my skin cancer specialist and dermatologist probably a combined dozen times since November '11…and stay out of the sun (or at least cover up) as much as you can.
Once I started seeing how the Sun was causing damage, I stopped training outdoors in the middle of the day. If I do a long ride, I do half outdoors, and then bring it inside after 11 am or so. I’ve been wearing arm coolers for years, but the comment about desoto leg coolers reminds me to get some. Hours and hours of Sun exposure in the middle of the day is something we all should realize is just begging for melanoma. I’m not looking forward to getting it, which is more likely than not.
Thanks everyone for the shared stories and words of advice.
I’ll be making an appointment with a dermatologist asap.
I realize how lucky I am to have caught it at this stage.
I had my doctor look at it twice and he said not to worry about it.
Best of luck to all of you with your’s too.
Ride Safe!
Absolutely what Greg said. My aunt had a dime-sized spot on her calf. She forgot to mention it to her dermatologist. She said “I’ll have him check it next time” (6 months later.) Well, 6 months later it was too late. They had to remove most of her calf at first, and a year later she was dead. If they get it before it is a few MM deep into the tissue, it is very curable. But if you ignore it and it gets into the lymph vessels, prognosis isn’t too good. So be very aggressive with it and don’t dilly-dally about getting treatment.
I just had two excisions - one on my upper arm and one on my upper thigh - to verify there was no cancer from biopsies done last year. Yes, I waited almost a year to do it because I didn’t want to take time off from swimming and it seemed like overkill to do wide excisions when the original biopsies were not melanoma (but were abnormal).
The recovery was not a big deal. Ran and biked probably the following day for both of them, but didn’t do much swimming until the stitches came out at two weeks. My doc said I could swim with a waterproof bandage after 7 days, but it seemed creepy to be in the pool with stitches.
Good for you for getting it taken care of.
The good news is you caught it at the earliest stages…the “in situ”. This means it has not really started to grow into the skin. And yes, having one a few mm deep can be very bad news. But surveillance is huge! The cells have the potential to reach lymph nodes once the tumor has reached between 0.7-1.0 mm in depth. So, you definitely do not want to wait in taking care of these. Keep your quarterly appts. Hopefully you never grow another one. But, your best chance is to catch them as early as possible.
Surgery–they will be doing 5mm margins for the in situ lesion. So that is 1cm wide, 3 cm long piece of skin that will be removed. You will have a scar about 3 cm long. Stitches for 2 weeks. Oh, and tell all of your family members. Because now YOU are the family history of melanoma for all of them.