LAUREN DOUGLAS

Stage:Stage II

I had a freckle on my arm for years, as long as I could remember it was there. Throughout my 20’s I enjoy the beach, sports and outdoor activity. However, I was not the most diligent about remembering sunscreen. I’d attend a weekend rugby tournament and apply it a few times but always ending with a slight burn. I always thought that I was too young to worry about the damage it was doing to my skin and deeper within my body. In other words I believe myself to be invincible.

Over time that freckle changed shape and began to rise off my arm, catching my attention. Friends and family would urge me to have it checked/get it removed. I heard them and understand what they were saying to be valid, but again that surge of invincibility would hit. I ignored it for about three years watching it change, until it began to frighten me.

This past January (2016) I went into the dermatologist to have it looked at. He immediately had it taken off to biopsied, reassuring me it didn’t look like cancer, but it didn’t hurt to check. So check we did. He told me that we would have results in a week, via a phone call or a postcard in the mail saying it was benign. The week flew by, I went about my everyday business, exactly a week later I waited during the day for a call. I finished my work day and went to pick up my girlfriend from work thinking its past business hours, doctors never call after 6. At 7:40pm my phone rang and I picked it up to my dermatologist saying the freckle is melanoma. He referred me to a surgeon to have it excised and sential node biopsy. The call was surreal, I didn’t take in half the information I was suppose to. I called my mom fearing giving her the bad news, my grandfather (Her Father) died 10 years ago from melanoma. So the mere word struck fear in both our hearts.

That phone call lead to a Smillow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital, where I met my wonderful surgeon Dr. Han for the first time. He sat patiently with us as he describe the severity of the cancer, it was believed to 1.2 mm thick in my right fore arm. He gave all the statistics and we set a date for surgery. February 8th.

I felt like I was in an alternate universe, how could I possibly have cancer. I was in the best shape of my life training for the upcoming rugby season (We are going to Nationals), I was volunteering at my firehouse and had just obtained my dream job. This could not be real. I cried of course and was consoled by friends and family, surged forward with a positive attitude from all. Waiting the two weeks between setting the surgery date and the actual day was brutal. I just wanted to get it over with and fight it.

On Feb. 8th I had the surgery under the wonderful care of Dr.Han and The Smillow Cancer Center. The melanoma turned out it be 2.5mm deep and the incision about half my fore arm. They removed three lymph nodes for testing and sent me home. I waited two weeks to hear back the results, I had trouble sleeping and focusing, I wanted all the answers. Today, I saw Dr. Han again, It did not spread to my lymph nodes and was successfully excised from my arm completely. It was the best news I have ever received, I know there still is a long road of watching and making sure it does not return but I am thinking positively. Thanks to my family and friends I can say I am now a survivor.