Malignant Melanoma

Yes, that bane of the existence of our sun-worshiping society. But really, if it were not for the whole cancer thing, wouldn’t poets just love it for rhyme, in consonance, assonance, and alliteration? Well, I suppose Poe could have used it anyway, almost makes your skin crawl as much as the Pit and the Pendulum.

Lovely rhymes aside, this disease, though widely publicized by daytime talk show hosts such as Sally and Oprah; is still widely misunderstood. I remember explaining to a co-worker my husbands experience with the disease. She exclaimed, “Oh but he has red hair and blue eyes, isn’t that unusual?” Ah sweet ignorance! What I wouldn’t give to have the same.

So a diagnosis of melanoma is rather life altering, unless you are rather naïve as my husband and I were. I hung up the phone with his doctor and said to my co-workers, “I thought melanoma was the bad one.” Why would I say that? Well, the bad stuff wouldn’t happen to a 25 year old man, let alone my husband while we were still in the honeymooner’s stage. So misunderstood fact number two: Melanoma happens to young people.

The third misunderstood fact, and one that amazes me still, is that people without cancer, (those lucky souls), still make fun of melanoma patients for not having a tan. That’s right, “look how white your legs are,” is a common phrase. Personally, I prefer not to be nice about it if it has been said to me. I gently remind them that my husband has cancer, remember? Then I follow it up with the suggestion that I prefer my skin attached to my body, not surgically removed by a plastic surgeon.

Fourth, and saddest, misunderstanding of melanoma is the word remission. Goodness how my mother-in-law would try to bait the doctor into saying he was in remission. Stone cold fact that these medical people are too squeamish to tell you, melanoma hardly ever goes into remission. Think of melanoma as the Roadrunner and your doctor as Wile E. Coyote. You’ll get it, it’ll come back. Then you think you’ve got it again, but damn it, it came back. And so you play the game, like Russian roulette, hoping the next hit won’t be a fatal one.

So there you have it. If you came across this article, it is probably because you or someone you know has had the diagnosis. So let me finish this by saying that you can live with this disease. You can live a long life with this disease. But make sure you learn to live with it. Is melanoma bad? Yes! But that doesn’t mean it can’t be beat.