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Cant believe any one could put some one through this degree of agony after successfully fighting through and making a full depressive recovery.
Getting second opinions is common. A professional PA shouldn't get pissed off about it. In fact, most would probably suggest a second opinion if you are so concerned and need more information to help you arrive at a decision. You have reason to be because of your diabetes.
As for putting someone through such "agony" I tend to believe in "better the devil you know instead of the devil you don't". You are now more aware than you were before and thus more likely to detect changes in that spot. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.
???... I'm still not sure what the OP's point is-- It was NOT a mis-diagnosis. The thing turned out to be an actinic keratosis, which is NOT cancer....It has only a 10% chance of EVER turning into cancer, and at age 70, the OP won't live long enough to be harmed by a relatively benign skin cancer, should it ever transform....
..and it is true diabetics are at higher risk of infections and non-healing wounds of surgical wounds-- not from cancer. Given that the surgery didn't need to be done, it would have been a real shame if the pt died from an infected, nn-healing wound.
Now, if the OP wanted an ugly lesion removed for cosmetic reasons or because it was painful, always getting injured/bleeding etc, then the practitioner should have honored that request.
Getting second opinions is common. A professional PA shouldn't get pissed off about it. In fact, most would probably suggest a second opinion if you are so concerned and need more information to help you arrive at a decision. You have reason to be because of your diabetes.
As for putting someone through such "agony" I tend to believe in "better the devil you know instead of the devil you don't". You are now more aware than you were before and thus more likely to detect changes in that spot. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.
Thanks Parnassia, in using the word Agony I was disappointed by having several consecutive encounters. Doc's/ Clinicians gaslighting my concerns. Nothing to worry about go home take this call me in two in two weeks. In saying misdiagnosed it was in reference to the repeated gas lighting events
???... I'm still not sure what the OP's point is-- It was NOT a mis-diagnosis. The thing turned out to be an actinic keratosis, which is NOT cancer....It has only a 10% chance of EVER turning into cancer, and at age 70, the OP won't live long enough to be harmed by a relatively benign skin cancer, should it ever transform....
I had an actinic keratosis removed by freezing last year. It's starting to come back. Apparently recurrence is not uncommon.
Seems every time I go to the dermatologist, there is some kind of lesion that needs to come off. Some have been cancerous and some have been nothing. Seems it's always something though. That' why I call myself the queen of skin cancers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guidoLaMoto
As Queen of Skin Cancers, we must assume you mean you have a lot of skin lesions, many of which have turned into cancer.
Watchful waiting is a legitimate policy for most skin lesions. They grow slowly, don't metastasize and most remain benign, so unless you want all sorts of scars that you didn't have to have, they are doing the right thing...
...of course the above does not apply to malignant melanoma, but those are usually fairly obvious and easily distinguished from the less serious forms- squamous cell & basal cell ca. Once you've been diagnosed with that, then they shouldn't be taking chances with any new or changing blemishes.
edited to answer the OP-- a lesion is not pre-cancerous unless it eventually turns into a cancer...If it doesn't change, then it wasn't pre-cancerous. A matter of proper semantics.
Sun damaged skin can show marks called actinic keratosis-- scaly, dry, raised, colored things. SOME of them may turn cancerous. Most do not. As I said above, those types of skin cancer grow so slowly and don't spread so there's no rush in treating them.
OP, only you can be your best advocate. Stay the course and always trust your gut. I am sickened how we put doctors on a pedestal. The older I get, the fewer doctors I find that listen to me as a patient. If I were as as dismissive with my financial advice as they are with my concerns, I would be fired many times over. If only their skill matched their arrogance.
Don't get me wrong, a few are absolutely wonderful - hang onto those tight. I have found two such doctors and I worry what I will do if they retire.
???... ...It has only a 10% chance of EVER turning into cancer.
I'm trying to eliminate being that 10% chance statistic.
Your chances of infection from a non-cancerous lesion being removed, is greater than your chances of the lesion turning into skin cancer.
You are already at risk of infection because of your diabetes. There was no misdiagnosis. A misdiagnosis means - they told you that you had something, that you didn't have. Or they told you that you didn't have something, that you did have.
You did not have cancer. They told you that it wasn't cancer. They diagnosed you correctly.
As a diabetic, you have a 25% risk of acquiring at least one non-healing wound during your life, and up to a 60% risk of that wound becoming infected. Once that happens, your risk of death due to that non-healing wound rises dramatically.
Do you want this significantly increased risk of death, in exchange for a 10% increased chance that your mole might become a non-lethal cancer? Squamous cell cancer is not deadly. That's what your keratosis has the 10% chance of becoming.
I had a place on my nose that looked like a freckle. Our dermatologist does nothing but skin cancers, and he recognized it may be a melanoma. It was removed with an incision to the tip of my nose.
Later, I had another small place on the forearm that he spotted. It took a 3" incision to get rid of.
Now, I'm seeing the dermatologist every 3 months. He's always got his "freeze gun" in his hand and zaps anything he doesn't like the looks of.
Thankfully the doctor office visits are just about 5 minutes.
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