Back from VA re: posssible melanoma

After a very very long weekend of an itchy and painful back I headed up to the VA early this morning. Since the clinics open up at 8 AM I figured that if I got to the ER by about 7:30 I would end up getting sent to the appropriate clinic just as it opened. This meant that I would have to get up at 4:30 in order to leave by 5 AM. But at least by traveling up the trace at that time of morning I should see lots of deer. Usually I would see at least 6 deer along the 60 miles of the trace at that time of morning. But that was not to be the case this morning and I was quite disappointed by the time I got to the hospital.

But at least my plan seemed to be working. I arrived as 7:30 and was seeing the ER triage nurse within 10 minutes. After listening to me tell her what was wrong she had me remove my shirt so that she could check it out. After checking my mole she told me it looked like melanoma and she was going to send me to the OPD ( out patient department) where they would take a piece for a biopsy and also schedule me an appointment for surgery to remove the rest of it.

I checked in at the OPD  just a couple of minutes after 8 so my plan was still working perfectly. About 45 minutes later I was called into the exam room by a very pretty resident from the Vanderbilt Hospital which is next door to the VA hospital. I figure that she was probably the on call resident and it took 45 minutes for her to be contacted and come over to the clinic. Anyway no sooner than I got into the exam room she asked me if I had ever seen a dermatologist before. I have no idea of why she asked that. I don't think I have any obvious skin flaws on my face. LOL. I told her no because I didn't remember that I saw one in Florida when I had second degree sunburns on my shins. Didn't think of that until I got home but that is another story.

After probing around at the mole of a minute she went over and got a stitch removal kit for the cabinet and removed the tweezer to do some more probing. she then placed a thin smooth black scab on the table next to me, I had never seen a scab that looked like that before, usually they are thick and bumpy. After a little bit more digging she left the room for a minute and came back with another doctor. They said you are not going to believe what we found and after some more digging into my back by this new doctor he laid a tick on the table.

A tick had borrowed into the top of the mole and it had become infected with the result being a scab that made the mole look like melanoma.  So now I am in my third batch of antibiotics in as many months. I also had to change the dressing on the mole 2 times a day ( which I can't reach the area of) . Tried stopping at a drug store to see if there was some kind of device that will allow me to change the dressing and the only thing the pharmacist could think of was Kitchen tongs.

Oh I did finally see 1 deer on the home along the trace and was home by noon.

Dennis

[torikat32]

oh boy good news no melanoma but did they say anything about possible lyme disease now?
glad the doctor was through and you will be on the mend now.

Take care
Kat

[doublevision1]

whew, what a relief Dennis.

good question re: lyme disease, will the antibiotics help to prevent that?

[essdipity]

This sounds like a good outcome, if extremely odd :-)

Much better than melanoma for sure! As to the tick, did the doc comment on what kind?

A few weeks ago I found what I was pretty sure was a tick on my head, dug in a bit under lots of hair. I managed to remove it and put it in a little plastic bag. It was still alive and kicking at the time, but died a couple of days later. I had a subsequent appt. with my PCP, and he confirmed it was just a regular tick, not a deer tick. Deer ticks are quite tiny, I know, and this one was larger, but not engorged.

Well, I wish you well. I think kitchen tongs might work well for the dressing, providing you have a good mirror, and maybe 3 hands.

Best of luck,
ess

[figuerpa]

Dennis,

I am glad it wasn't melanoma. I hope they treat aggressively for infection that may lead to lyme disease.

I really hope you figure out a way to get that dressing changed like you are suppose to. A friend perhaps?

Take care,
Paula

[Starryeyes2]

Wow! How weird! I am sooo glad it's not melanoma.

Hoping for a quick recovery.

KrIsti

[Sailorsong]

Thanks to all that responded. Yes it was a weird outcome for this. And yes the antibiotics will protect me from Lyme disease. That is the main reason you are given them.

The doctors main concern for me is not Lyme but an abscess. Since the tick bite was already infected once and my immune system is compromised I am to especially watch for that.

ESS:
   Your are slightly misinformed about deer ticks. They can be either small or large. But doctor are more concerned about the small ones ( nymphs) as they infect most people as they are not usually detected soon enough as it takes 36 hours for a tick to infect a person. The larger ticks ( adults ) are spotted before that time and removed, but they also carry the Lyme disease bacteria. In fact more adult ticks carry the bacteria than the nymphs. As for the adults it is really only the females you have to worry about as they feed for a long enough period to transmit the disease while the males just feed intermittently for a few hours at a time. The females can be spotted by a white dot on their backs.

As for changing the dressing while I could ask my one and only friend ( Dave ) to help me with that it is going over to his place that I pick up these darn ticks. Plus I would have to make 4 trips to his place for him to help me out each day. Once to get the old dressing removed, come home and take a shower, then back to his place to get the new dressing  applied. So I would rather avoid that. I have figured out and tried out the method of applying of new dressing using 2 kitchen tongs. I think it will work pretty good. What I haven't yet figured out is how to remove the old dressing.  I will be trying out ideas in that area as soon as I post this message.

Dennis


In the mean time my back is still painful ( the constant itching is sending the muscles into spasms) and itching like craze. I can calm the itching somewhat by leaning back in a chair but it also makes the site hurt more from the pressure on it. so I am keeping a switching between positions every once in a while to minimize both reacts.

[Sailorsong]

I forgot that I was going to answer your question about SSDI from the other thread here.

yes I got my SSDI in 1989. I just happened that I forgot how to write my name for the first time while filling out the paperwork for my SSDI at the social security office. I had to ask the woman there for help to figure out how to make the letters of my name. After I was approved I took a look at my file at the office and found out the woman put in my file how I could not figure out how to write my own name. I'm sure that helped me get the SSDI.

Dennis

[Sailorsong]

Well the tongs worked out pretty good. I managed to remove the old dressing, place the antibiotic cream on the pad of a new bandage and get it in place and stuck to my back. The original dressing was much larger than what I used so I may not be able to handle the new dressing tomorrow as easily since the tong just barely reached the old dressing. I figure I pick up some longer tongs I saw at the store tomorrow to see if that works. If not I may to have to switch to another type of bandage that is larger.

Dennis

[rendean]

Glad it wasn't melanoma!! Pretty creative with the dressing changing tongs! I hope the antibiotics take care of any infection you may have had.

Ren