Labor Day weekend, a small, red, oval spot appeared on my collarbone. It didn't itch or bother me, it just showed up one day. A few days later, I had an appointment with my primary care physician, and he diagnosed it as a rash and told me to put Cortaid on it. I did so, but then a day later, a full-blown rash appeared. When I went to my oncologist appointment on the 27th of September, I took the name of a medicine a former doctor had given me to clear up such a rash on my midsection, and he called in the prescription, but it was the wrong one. It did, however, somewhat clear up the rash. The red spot turned brown, then red again, and the other evening it itched. After having scratched it, I looked in the mirror and was shocked to see a larger, really red spot. (That morning, the spot was brown.) At that point, I was convinced I have melanoma.
I had an appointment with my primary care physician on Oct. 21, and when he looked at it again, he didn't seem to think it was anything alarming, but scheduled me for a biopsy on the 28th. (Missing school yet again!) On the way home, I remembered that I'm to have an octreotide drip when I have any procedures done. I called Ochsner Medical Center and was told that I DO have to have the drip for a biopsy, so now my primary care physician is in the process of finding out if I really do have to have the drip. If so, the simple, 30-minute office procedure will have to be changed.
Some carcinoid cancer tumors cause unexplained rashes, and I have gotten them twice a year for the past five years. When I showed the (then brown) spot to Dr. Woltering, he blew it off and said that what I have is NOT caused by the carcinoid and that it could be skin cancer.
If it's not one thing, it's another! I still feel blessed, however.
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