Staci Hendricks

Stage:Stage I

I found a mole on the back of my left leg a year prior to doing anything about it. I even made the comment “that’s probably cancer.” I work at a nursing facility and I saw the Nurse Practitioner and I asked her what she thought of my mole. Her response was I needed to have it removed as soon as possible. I made the appointment and she removed it 5/18. I went in thinking it was Basal Cell and she told me it looked like Melanoma. When she stitched me up, I asked if she thought she got it all. She said there were a few deeper spots she was concerned about. I worried until the pathology report came in. On 5/25, she called me personally and gave me the diagnosis of Superficial Spreading Melanoma. She got me in to see a dermatologist within a week and he got me in to see an oncologist within another week. I’m a matter of 6 weeks, I had the mole removed, the diagnosis and surgery. I was told there was no residual malignancy and he got it all!! I have a large wound in my leg and a sore hip from the skin graft. I wore a wound vac for 5 days. All of that was not fun, but it could be so so much worse. I was very lucky.