Procedure on coumadin

[Gail in Ca]

Yesterday I had a melanoma removed from my shin. I didn't have to go off Coumadin for this procedure. My dermatologist said that as long as the patient's INR is below 4, she is fine with doing outpatient surgeries with Coumadin in place. My INR was 2.5 yesterday. She was surprised that her work area after cutting was pretty dry as she put it. After all the tissue was cut out, I was stitched up and then my leg was wrapped with cast material. This keeps it tight so the bleeding will be less, they hope. I have it looked at on Weds, another cast will be placed and then I have it for another week.
It's pretty painful at times. She had to stretch the skin quite a bit. She said I would end up with an ugly scar. Melanoma is one of the two bad skin cancers, so she was pretty confident she got it all. I hope so, too.

 

[Cooker]

Gail.... Wishing you the best outcome.

 

[Eva]

Sorry to hear about this, Gail, and wish you the best outcome.

 

[Protimenow]

Gail:

There are a few types of melanoma. The bad one is malignant melanoma. The other types are freckles of all sorts.

I hope that the pathology on your melanoma is completely benign.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

Glad the procedure went well

Melanoma is one of the two bad skin cancers, so she was pretty confident she got it all. I hope so, too.

Australia is probably the melanoma capital of the world, so there we have a standard procedure to check if it was malignant or benign. Do you know if they intend to check that from the tissue or has that already been done?

Best wishes

 

[marc_kowal]

Best wishes and glad to hear the procedure went well

 

[chaconne]

Gail,

Sounds like you caught it early if all you had to do is get it removed. I'm a survivor of stage-3 nodular Melanoma (so far, after 4 years), which is the most dangerous and aggressive kind of lesion. One lymph node was found with a tiny amount of cancer and they removed 10 more from my leg to be sure. Had to have 2 surgeries and it left me with mild lymphedema in my left leg.

As far as bleeding after removals of skin lesions, I've never had much trouble even being on warfarin.

 

[chaconne]

There are a few types of melanoma. The bad one is malignant melanoma. The other types are freckles of all sorts.

I hope that the pathology on your melanoma is completely benign.

As far as I know there is only 1 type of Melanoma cancer cell but many ways it can show up in the skin or even in the eyes. I had a Nodular Melanoma (NM) which grows down into the skin, hence it is more aggressive/dangerous. The type that spreads out like a giant amoeba is less dangerous. My dad had one in his eye which was removed well before it became a major problem. My uncle had one on his abdomen and let it grow without doing anything. By the time he had swollen lymph nodes and went to the doctor, it was too late. The key is to catch it early, before it spreads to lymph nodes, or much more serious - organs.

My ancestry is northern European (Norwegian), and we seem to be more vulnerable to this disease.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Thanks, all, for the positive wishes. Yes, she sent all the tissue cut out to pathology, they slice it and look at it closely.
She was very honest and told me that melanoma is bad if it goes beyond what can be cut out.
So, I'm a bit nervous and ready to have those pathology results.
I always thought it would be a cruel joke to have had 3 OHS, endocarditis, brain bleed, AND cancer. Well, such is life.
Chaconne, I am also part Norwegian, my Mom is 100%, but she's 95, and healthy as a horse! Must be my Okie side that made me vulnerable to this crazy stuff.
I feel I must be pretty strong in general to have made it this far!
My melanoma was like an age spot, and had a very small mole/freckle on the edge. The age spot part was getting bigger, so I went in to have it checked.
The doc almost just burned it off, but changed her mind and biopsied it, thank God.

 

[chaconne]

Gail,

Sounds to me like it's just a Stage 1. The prognosis is quite good for those in this category. Also sounds like you took care of it in a timely fashion. The key is to stay vigilant and have regular checkups with our derm.

 

[Gail in Ca]

So Happy! I got the all clear from my Doctor. They got it all. The Oncologist said 90-95% of the time it doesn't come back. They will keep a close eye on my skin for a long while, with the Dermatologist and the Oncologist seeing me every 3 months and then spreading it out to every 6 months, ( but not at the same time, obviously).
Just a note, I've been taking Tylenol and it has raised my INR to 3.0 from 2.4 last week. The docs seem to think it doesn't affect INR, but in my case it does. Also I have not been exercising, so that may have something to do with it. Just talked to the Coumadin nurse and she said any dosage over 1.5gm/day for a week could affect INR.
Anyway, I'll have my 25 stitches another week at least as the wound is still oozing (bleeding). I got it re-wrapped like a cast for another week.

 

[Agian]

Great news.

 

[Bina]

About 12 years ago i had a small mole change on my jaw, so a specialist cut it out. They cut deep and biopsied and all was fine.
Gail, wishing you all the best, you are a trooper !!

 

[njean]

Glad to hear the good news, Gail! What a relief!

That's quite a few stitches BTW!
Take care!