It's Melanoma: Welcome to My Recovery Thread!

[saveliberty]

You know Darlene, you just take all the fun out of radiation.

 

[Darlene]

You know Darlene, you just take all the fun out of radiation.

Non-ionizing radiation may still cause harm to the human body but it is considerably less dangerous than ionizing radiation.

 

[Stephanie]

prays for you my dear. fight the good fight.

 

[Roadrunner]

Don't mess around, RR. Get thee to doc. I had a couple of wartlike thingies appearing on my skin and had them checked out. Forgot the name of them but they are harmless. Look like big freckles..or moles..BIG. But flat. I call them age spots. He called them something else but it was some weird name.

Anywho...don't delay. Catching the Big C early is key.

I have already has three skin cancer surgeries, and one other cryrosurgery for a tumor.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Doc gave me the bad news just a few hours ago. The mole that was directly on the back of my head is Melanoma.

He chopped it off last week and sent it to be biopsied. It was the size of half yer index finger to the first knuckle. About a year ago I was noticing this little irritating thing on the back of my head when I combed my hair. My wife said it looked like an ingrown hair, of which I've had plenty over the years so I thought nothing of it. Until it started to grow. And itch. And bleed.

I'll post a disgusting pic of it later along with my post-op scar! It sorta looks like a rotten, crusty raspberry! Besides, what good is a Disease thread without pics right? I know, I have a sick, twisted sense of humour. Comes from all those years reading Mad Magazine!

Anyway, judging by the info the Doc gave me it's either a Stage 2C or Stage 3A,B or C. Doc can't do any more for me by himself so he's gonna' refer me to the University of Maryland for further tests. If it has spread to my Lymph Nodes then it's Stage 4.

Either way, I'm pretty certain I'm not gonna' go the way of Modern Western Medicine. Sure, if you've been in a car accident and have multiple injuries then yeah, Modern Western Emergency Medicine is great! But for Cancer? Not so much.

I'm sure they're gonna' want to do one or more of the following:

1. Cut (Surgery)
2. Burn (Radiation)
3. Poison (Drugs)

Well they've already cut, and I wouldn't mind them having to cut some more but Poison and Burn? Uh, I don't think so. So what am I gonna' do? Ever heard of Gerson Therapy?

Gerson Institute

This will be an ongoing thread to document my success or failure, whatever may happen.

Feel free to chime in and say whatever you want including criticisms of my plan. It's ok, i can take it!

But most of all: Please keep me in your Prayers! Thank you!

Mad Scientist.

Is a 'laser scalpal' technique they're working on in Austin, Texas that zaps individual cancer cells instead of killing off healthy cells with radiation. Might be something to look at.

Ben-Yakar Group Femtosecond Laser Assisted Biophotonics

 

[Delta4Embassy]

There's radiation coming from the monitor, just saying.

All electrical devices emit radiation. Sunlight's the usual culprit though.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks for the posts D4E but actually, the sun is the best source of light for me, and for everything on this earth by the way. A little bit of sun exposure is just fine but of course a sun burn is what can cause damage.

 

[strollingbones]

waiting for a good update...but this should be a warning to everyone..the yearly trip to the skin doctor is needed....a full body check....

good luck mad....i hope its stage a

 

[Zoom-boing]

Damn, hoping everything turns out for the positive for you, Mad.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks Bones! Haven't seen ya' in a while, howse yer better half doin'?

I got the test results back this wed. It's Stage 3. I'm scheduled for an exam at University of Maryland on the 25th and I guess that'll determine if it's stage 4 or not (in the Lymph nodes) I f*ckin hate going to Baltimore, it's the epitome of East Coast Depression.

Either way, I've already decided I'm not doing Chemo. I saw this girl on a video and she summed it up perfectly: "You're gonna' cure my Cancer with Radiation that CAUSES Cancer? WTF?". That's like putting out fires with Napalm! No thanks!

 

[strollingbones]

dont be so fast to reject chemo....just go slow and easy.....and dont give up....a friend of mine had a major one...years ago...they removed half her upper shoulder ....muscle....she is a survivor

 

[Toro]

Good that you caught it.

You'll be posting here 10 years from now telling us that it is gone forever.

 

[AquaAthena]

I would caution you on just using alternate therapies Mad. To me it makes more sense to use traditional methods and then nontraditional ones to counter the negatives of drugs or burning. Keep your head in the right space and the rest will follow.

That's the route I would go.

All the best MS. I will keep you in my positive vibes.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Thanks for the posts D4E but actually, the sun is the best source of light for me, and for everything on this earth by the way. A little bit of sun exposure is just fine but of course a sun burn is what can cause damage.

That's like saying standing bareskin and exposed to a detonating hydrogen bomb is fine. Can buy sun-wavelength light emitters if you're inclined too. What they use in northern climates instead of regular lightbulbs. Helps mood or some such. But they simulate the wavelengths given off by the Sun but minus the harmful UV.

Tanned skin is damaged skin pigment. The myth that tanned skin is healthy is absolutely wrong as any dermatologist can tell you. Thus everyone out tanning in Summer is an ignoramus.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Warning! Disgusting Before and After photos at link: (if I can get it to work)

Stuff Photos by uhhuh35 Photobucket

 

[Luddly Neddite]

If it helps any, I had a Stage III melanoma removed while I was still in (sunny) Tucson. I had chemo and radiation. The new chemo drugs aren't as bad as they used to be and they got it all. I have it checked as well as checking on any other spots. Its been 13 years and so far, so good.

Good luck.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Had the stitches removed today, Doc said it's healing nicely. We discussed further treatment if it's stage 4 and he agreed that Holistic Therapies can help in conjuction with the treatment he wants to put me on. But I knew he was gonna' say that anyway.

He did give me a referal to Hershey Medical Center so now I don't have to drive to disgusting, dirty and depressing Baltimore! (I've always hated that town!) And he's gonna' give me a Doctors note so I can invoke FMLA if I need to.

 

[NLT]

Good Luck

 

[Rotagilla]

Positive thoughts sent.

 

[auditor0007]

Doc gave me the bad news just a few hours ago. The mole that was directly on the back of my head is Melanoma.

He chopped it off last week and sent it to be biopsied. It was the size of half yer index finger to the first knuckle. About a year ago I was noticing this little irritating thing on the back of my head when I combed my hair. My wife said it looked like an ingrown hair, of which I've had plenty over the years so I thought nothing of it. Until it started to grow. And itch. And bleed.

I'll post a disgusting pic of it later along with my post-op scar! It sorta looks like a rotten, crusty raspberry! Besides, what good is a Disease thread without pics right? I know, I have a sick, twisted sense of humour. Comes from all those years reading Mad Magazine!

Anyway, judging by the info the Doc gave me it's either a Stage 2C or Stage 3A,B or C. Doc can't do any more for me by himself so he's gonna' refer me to the University of Maryland for further tests. If it has spread to my Lymph Nodes then it's Stage 4.

Either way, I'm pretty certain I'm not gonna' go the way of Modern Western Medicine. Sure, if you've been in a car accident and have multiple injuries then yeah, Modern Western Emergency Medicine is great! But for Cancer? Not so much.

I'm sure they're gonna' want to do one or more of the following:

1. Cut (Surgery)
2. Burn (Radiation)
3. Poison (Drugs)

Well they've already cut, and I wouldn't mind them having to cut some more but Poison and Burn? Uh, I don't think so. So what am I gonna' do? Ever heard of Gerson Therapy?

Gerson Institute

This will be an ongoing thread to document my success or failure, whatever may happen.

Feel free to chime in and say whatever you want including criticisms of my plan. It's ok, i can take it!

But most of all: Please keep me in your Prayers! Thank you!

Mad Scientist.

First of all, I do hope that it has not spread to your lymph nodes. However it turns out though, I really think you are making a big mistake by going the alternative route. When my late wife had leukemia, we thoroughly researched all of the alternative treatments, and what we found out is that they just did not work. Yes, there were anecdotal stories of such and such person fully recovering using one of those alternative therapies, but they were one out of every one-hundred. Everything else we found was that most everyone ended up dying on those treatment plans. Now, to be fair, my wife faired no better using radiation and chemo, along with a stem cell transplant. She had leukemia, but she also had one of the forms of leukemia with which they have had little success, and the transplant only had a 25% success rate at the time.

Bottom line is that you should go with "western medicine" if you have any reasonable chance of beating it.