- B
In Summer 2018 Finn, who was 2 years old (3 now) had a spot show up on his hand, looked like a bug bite and it got a little bigger and we were referred to a dermatologist in the beginning of 2019. She thought it might be a water wart, it was taken off and sent to a lab. They called me a week or so later and said it was a spitz nevus and nothing to worry about it, and we would just monitor the area. About 6 weeks later (April 2019), the spot was back 2x as big. Dermatologist said it was still nothing to worry about, but the only way for it to go away would be to have it surgically removed. We were then referred to a plastic surgeon. Finn had surgery in August to remove the spitz nevus. The surgeon didn't close it right, we ended up in the ER. (Long story)!
Really didn't want to go back to the surgeon but they called to make sure we would be at post op... and that's when we were informed the slides showed it could be something more. At this point they had already sent his slides from Florida to San Francisco to be reviewed!
Over the next 6 weeks we waited to hear back and checked in weekly with the nurse. We went back for discussion, The recommendation was for a re-excision to the area (margins are not clear) with skin graft and remove sential lymph node to see if it had spread. And to see if it was officially cancer.
He needs 2 surgeons and they had no openings for 6 more weeks and my mommy gut really didnt feel comfortable with them.
So, I contacted a local orthopedic surgeon to get a 2nd opinion and be more comfortable with somebody that works on hands all day. I also had a few friends tell me I needed to contact Dr.Pappo at St Jude. I contacted St.Jude to see if they would possibly look at his slides. In the meantime we got the 2nd opinion from the orthopedic surgeon which went well.
St.Judes was great and has stayed in contact with me each week. It took about 3 weeks for their pathology to review the slides (local hospital didn't send everything the 1st time).
St.Jude called and had us travel there within a few days of their pathologist finishing. We were at St.Jude from December 9th-14. They confirmed it was spitzoid melanoma. They decided to hold off on surgery for January so he wouldn't have to be there through the holidays.
Finn will have a re-excision with Lymph Node Biopsy in January We will be there for 10-14 days. We will return for a 2nd surgery for skin graft in February.
I have 5 children and Finn is "the baby". They range in age from 3-14. Both my husband and I are self employed and work from home, so I'm very paranoid what we will financially do.
Thank you all for welcoming me to the group!
Here is Finn's page www.facebook.com/Finn4thewin
Really didn't want to go back to the surgeon but they called to make sure we would be at post op... and that's when we were informed the slides showed it could be something more. At this point they had already sent his slides from Florida to San Francisco to be reviewed!
Over the next 6 weeks we waited to hear back and checked in weekly with the nurse. We went back for discussion, The recommendation was for a re-excision to the area (margins are not clear) with skin graft and remove sential lymph node to see if it had spread. And to see if it was officially cancer.
He needs 2 surgeons and they had no openings for 6 more weeks and my mommy gut really didnt feel comfortable with them.
So, I contacted a local orthopedic surgeon to get a 2nd opinion and be more comfortable with somebody that works on hands all day. I also had a few friends tell me I needed to contact Dr.Pappo at St Jude. I contacted St.Jude to see if they would possibly look at his slides. In the meantime we got the 2nd opinion from the orthopedic surgeon which went well.
St.Judes was great and has stayed in contact with me each week. It took about 3 weeks for their pathology to review the slides (local hospital didn't send everything the 1st time).
St.Jude called and had us travel there within a few days of their pathologist finishing. We were at St.Jude from December 9th-14. They confirmed it was spitzoid melanoma. They decided to hold off on surgery for January so he wouldn't have to be there through the holidays.
Finn will have a re-excision with Lymph Node Biopsy in January We will be there for 10-14 days. We will return for a 2nd surgery for skin graft in February.
I have 5 children and Finn is "the baby". They range in age from 3-14. Both my husband and I are self employed and work from home, so I'm very paranoid what we will financially do.
Thank you all for welcoming me to the group!
Here is Finn's page www.facebook.com/Finn4thewin