Thank God. One wonders, however, if Dr. Van Nostrand could have gotten a section just a little bit earlier.
Posted on 06/21/2019 9:37:42 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Kristina Baum, 37, had an inauspicious start to distance running: She signed up for her first race, the Army Ten Miler, back in 2006 with zero training.
“I thought I might as well just show up and try it, and see as far I can get,” she tells Runner’s World.
She ran eight miles without stopping and walked the last two. The physical after-effects were rough—she threw up twice, and was in pain for days—but finishing the race completely hooked her on running.
So she started training, and ran the Houston Half Marathon in 2007 and 2009. But at the same time, her professional career was taking off, and racing hit the back burner. She had pursued a career in communications in Washington, D.C., where she currently serves as the communications director for the House Natural Resources Committee, and was climbing the ladder fast. The ‘Pimple’ That Started It All
Then in 2012, she went to the doctor for a bad chest cold. But her doctor noticed something on her arm that was concerning: It was a colorless spot that looked like a pimple or a wart. It was something Baum had noticed three months before, but didn’t think much of.
Her doctor recommended that Baum go for a biopsy, but she put it off for three months because of her crazy work schedule. Besides, she wasn’t having any symptoms, so she didn’t think it was something that needed to be taken care of urgently.
Six days after her biopsy in September of 2012, she got the call with the results: stage 3 melanoma, a type of skin cancer that is less common than basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas, but more dangerous because it is much more likely to spread.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
I had to get to the very end of the article to see she credits God, and her faith in God, for her triumphs.
It was worth it.
About 40 years ago my wife went to see our doctor for a bleeding ulcer. The nurse had her change into a gown and then she passed out on the floor from the loss of so much blood. The doctor rushed in to help pick her up and noticed a large spot on her thigh that turned out to be late stage Malignant Melanoma. They sent her by ambulance to the hospital and a surgeon was called in to do a biopsy that showed he had to keep cutting and cutting and then he wasn’t sure he had it all. Then a nasty infection set in and it must have cooked that spot because the cancer has not returned.
Thank You God for sparing her...
Thank God. One wonders, however, if Dr. Van Nostrand could have gotten a section just a little bit earlier.
Melanoma is so insidious I don’t see how anyone survives.
Dermatologists are scarce as hen’s teeth. It can take months to get in to see one.
Son in law unfortunately has melanoma. Doctors in California had not been aggressive enough in one of his surgeries and later told him it was too far for more surgery to be effective. He switched to doctors at the Huntsman Center in Utah that have made progress with surgery and some newer drugs. He’s doing better though the side effects have taken a toll. We’re just glad he’s had a couple more years and there’s hope he’ll be able to survive.
*** Thank You God for sparing her...***
He knew what beautiful flowers she would grow to brighten His creation.
And I am glad you are around to show us the pictures of your lovely gardens
I realize this sounds contentious, but I have met so many people, including an awful lot of Christians, who have created their own kind of designer God.
As an aside, several years ago, I knew a woman (who I had a kinda crush on) whose vanity car tag was "HPNME" (my Higher Power And Me).
When she told me about it and how much God meant to her (she was in a 12-program), I told her I was touched by her faith.
But when I mentioned Jesus, she recoiled in what I would call fear and disgust (disgust at me for mentioning the name I think).
When I asked her about God, she described a kind of new age God to which she attributed all kinds of dreamed up qualities and characteristics.
As I got to know her better, I discovered that she was a sex maniac and bisexual. And her God enthusiastically approved.
Years ago one of the top surgeons at the hospital where I worked...a very famous cancer surgeon,in fact...had a seizure in the OR. He ordered a CAT scan on himself and,seeing that the melanoma that he had removed several years earlier had metastasized to his brain,he quit his job and retired to the Caribbean.
He was dead four months later.
Melanoma is one of the ugliest of the many ugly cancers that exist.
“Dermatologists are scarce as hen’s teeth. It can take months to get in to see one.”
That’s a pity for you, where I live there are multiple Dermatologists and they are fairly easy to see.
One my Wife dislikse immensely so she no longer sees him, she does see a very nice female Dermatologist every six months or so for her melanoma followups...four years on and so far so good.
We are thankful.
Young friend died from Melanoma about ten yrs ago. Had some removed from her back when she was in college. By the time they realized it had reoccurred, it had spread internally and there wasn’t much they could do. She was 33, left two very young boys and a husband.
kinda silly article spends all it’s picture space( 4 if i counted coorrect on my skim through the article at link) on pictures of this woman and NONE on showing what that melanoma can look like to maybe help educate viewers/readers.
There are not many doctors of any kind around here let alone dermatologists. Most so called doctors in this area are specializing in “pain management” you know, peddling narcotics and now marijuana prescriptions. Anybody worth a flip goes where there is some money and this is not that place. Now if you want to go out of network and 80 miles there are fertile fields but not so much the “city” of 60,000 22 miles away. 80 miles in the other direction and in network we are outsiders as well and they have plenty of local business.
If things that look like pimples are melanoma I’m dead already.
Amelanotic Melanoma is rarely recognized by the person. Most people aren’t aware that a lesion can be Melanoma and not be pigmented. Go for skin checks people!
Later diagnosis may offer a worse prognosis, but isn't without hope. Melanoma has long known to have the highest rate of all cancers of what could be interpreted as miraculous outcomes: widespread disease either completely disappearing or becoming indolent. Enough that we've long been trying to learn from them how He did it. After decades of study, new drugs are starting to let us induce miracles.
Useful, helpful, hopeful and considerate information. Thank you Hen’s tooth.
Skin problems are so numerous in type and similar in appearance they seem to defy clear classification even for a trained dermatologist at least one not willing to spend the time to dig a little deeper instead of just trying something. I’ve had three diagnoses for the very same problem over the years and it is still unresolved. Steroids or antifungals seem to be the only two tools in the box and if you can’t take oral antifungals you are out of luck in that department.
Dermatologists seem to be much more interested in easier and more lucrative sub-specialties dealing with beauty instead of health.
Thank you. I’m not jaded to all physicians just a lot of them.
Former Cardinal and current A’s player Stephen Piscotty just had surgery to remove a melanoma from his right ear.
Been a rough few years for him. He lost his mom last year to ALS.
I am more excited to see him return to STL next week than Pujols this weekend.
The doctor that treated the multiple myeloma was horrible. Without my dad’s consent he started him on chemo when he was in the hospital with too much calcium in his blood. That was end Feb/early March. Between then and June 24th he had him on a few different chemo treatments EXCEPT the one most people get at first. He also ignored all of his side effects like severe edema. On June 23rd and 24th he was given the newest treatment that had only been approved in November 2015.
On June 25th he ended up in the hospital. That was the last time I saw him. He was transferred to another hospital and died on July 4th. From the first surgery to death was less than 6 months but I consider it 3 months because of that doctor from hell.
He had internal bleeding and it had been going on for a few weeks.
—
If you have something that concerns you please go to a doctor or even several doctors. My parents didn’t like the doctor the first time they met him. I told them to find another doctor but they didn’t.
We like the doctor who did the surgeries. I even sat on a jury and found in his favor in 2017. A woman didn’t follow the directions for Osmoprep and was suing him.
>Been a rough few years for him. He lost his mom last year to ALS.
>I am more excited to see him return to STL next week than Pujols this weekend.
I also remember Piscotty having an horrific outfield. collision while with the Cards. He's classy young player and I was very happy the Cards were willing to trade him so he could be closer to his Mom. I've heard about his recent melanoma although not in as much detail as I'd like to know so as to be confident of his prognosis. To get to be good enough to play pro baseball, pro golf, etc. you have to take a lot of sun exposure along the way. American Academy of Dermatology has worked with MLB to provide skin cancer screenings for players and their families. The PGA and LPGA have also worked to educate their members. I'd hope that the ear location will have allowed someone else to spot Stephen's melanoma early. Spotting your own ear melanoma is tough!
CARDS BEAT A'S 4-2 IN SPITE OF A PUJOLS HR TODAY!
I know that she was outside your target range as the story developed, but you did introduce her to Laz didn’t you?
Most melanoma are black or mostly black and generally not perfectly round. A rare few are white or non-pigmented. They are very difficult to find in time.
We think of some cancers as being benign for a while, then malignant and then after a while actively metastasizing and spreading. Melanoma does NOT work that way.
It is malignant from its first cell according to my dermatologist.
That is why ignoring it while small is so problematic.
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