by Carole
(Georgia)
I'm Carole and Live in Georgia
An innocuous little heart on my right shoulder. I actually smiled the day I got out of the shower and saw it in the mirror. I told my husband I had a tattoo on my shoulder because I loved him.
After two years or so, I took notice of it again. There was a slight change. The point at the bottom of the heart wasn't pointy anymore and it was a slightly different color. Oh well, nothing to worry about, the doctor said so.
Nonetheless I returned to the doctor and showed him again. He said he did not think it was a cancerous mole. I however wasn't happy with the changes in my little heart.
After about one month and some more obvious changes, I called a dermatologist and had a visit. The Physicians Assistant looked at it and said "I don't think it's cancer, but we'll take it off anyway." The mole was removed that day and I left the office with a bandage and a slightly lighter mood. That ended one week later.
The phone call from the dermatologist office really surprised me. "Mrs. P. the mole I took off of your shoulder was a cancerous mole. You need to come back in and we need to remove more of the area around it. Back to the office and more was removed. He didn't tell me what kind of cancer it was and I didn't want to know until I looked at his face. I asked and he told me quite calmly that it was a melanoma, but in it's early stages.
Now I make sure that every spot that pops up on me is checked. No more melanoma, I am a lucky one.