Sunday, October 24, 2010
I thought I was almost finished with active treatment for Breast Cancer-Mastectomy 6 months ago. Still dealing with it emotionally. Now I have Basal Cell Skin Cancer on my left arm (I first saw a Derm in 2006,& also last yr before Breast Cancer Surgery). Neither Dr. was very impressed. Just to cover my bases, I saw a Derm at UCSF who took it seriously and did a shave biopsy. She called me 2 days later to tell me it is Basal Cell, & needs to be surgically removed. I'm concerned about Lymphedema,as this is the surgical side from Breast Cancer. I've been told NOT to have any needle sticks or BPs taken on this arm!! Has anyone else had this experience? I was told to expect a 3-4inch scar. Thats lots more than a needle stick!!!
Hello
Just checking in with you to see what has happened since you posted this.
There is a lot of information about lymphedema from The National Lympedema Network.
I am sure you have already but explaining the situation to your doctor or dermatologist would be your best bet.
Let us know how you are doing.
Thank you for your concern. It just happens that I just got home from having the basal cell carcinoma removed! I was given 2 choices re: treatment. One would be excising it with a 4mm margin all around and a diagonal scar of about 2inches on the top of my arm. This would give me a definite pathology report that could reassure me that all had been removed. I chose option #2: He removed it by scraping thin layers off and cauterizing to stop any bleeding. He gave me a smaller margin than 4mm, but since I've had this for about 5-6 years he reassured me it is Very slow-growing (as it really hasn't gotten much, if any larger). The shave biopsy done a few wks ago came back showing it to be very superficial and slow-growing. So, with this procedure, I will have a light-colored round scar, and a much reduced risk of lymphedema-which was a very real concern for me. The area under the bandage is swollen from the local anesthetic. I am hoping it will go down like when I had the very small biopsy. This took 4-5 days, as my arm has a decreased ability to drain because I had lymph nodes removed with my breast cancer surgery. They want me to follow up by seeing the Dermatologist every 3 months to check for any evidence of recurrance there or elsewhere. He feels it will not return, but in the event it does, I can have a more aggressive surgery at that time. I learned from my sister that our Mother had Skin Cancer Melanoma that was removed a number of times. She caught it early, fortunately. So, I plan to be observant also.
I will have to see how my arm heals, and if lymphedema will be a problem--but I feel much better about this option that was given to me. God bless you!