Skin Cancer Support Group
If you or a loved one has skin cancer, this is the community to discuss your experience, find support, and meet others going through the same. Skin cancer is a malignant growth on the skin, which can have many causes, including repeated severe sunburns or long-term exposure to the sun. Skin cancer generally develops in the outermost layer of skin so a tumor is usually...
Hi there. I'm trying not to let the little squirrel running around in my head take control. So far, squirrel is ahead.
I visited the GP yesterday due to 3 black stripes on my big toenail I've had since maybe late summer. I figured it was another case of toenail fungus coupled with bumping my toe and maybe running with inappropriate sneakers. She was very concerned, didn't offer me a Rx for an over the counter anti-fungal as I had been expecting, but instead took clippings of the nail and sent them off to the lab. You don't take clippings if it's a burst blood vessel, or a running injury, is my guess. You take clippings to check for cancer. She suggested I get in touch with a podiatrist while we wait the one month for the test results to come back. The podiatrist she suggested is a surgeon and referred me to a general podiatrist, who wasn't in the office. Adding to my stress is that I'm having a follow up ultrasound on my left breast due to something they thought was a concern 6 months ago.
I've been searching on the web since yesterday trying to find pictures of a toenail which looks like mine. All I see are nails with single straight stripes. I have 3 and they're pretty thick, varying thicknesses, not straight but on a sort of diagional, and go from the cuticle to the tip of the nail.
I'm the kind of person who like to know things ahead of time. Give me the worst case scenario so I can at least not be totally blindsided if it proves to be correct. At the dentist's office, I like to see that needle before they numb my mouth!
I'm sure as the days go on, I'll feel less anxious. It's hard to be this stressed for too long. Life gets in the way, thankfully!
Does anyone have knowledge of subungal melanoma or general information on black striped toenail issues?
The podiatrist took a portion of my nail (and underlying skin?) off and sent it for biopsy. He never said the work "cancer" but said "malignant" twice. He said it did not look like fungus (which is what I was hoping for). There was no pain and the healing went fine.
Both doctors said they'd never seen black stripes like mine.
The next morning I woke up with a swelling on my neck. I had fallen asleep funny atop a bunch of pillows, so naturally thought this is why my neck hurt. It got worse as the day progressed and suddenly that squirrel awoke and started shouting "lymph node - the malignancy has spread to your lymph nodes". Just try shutting that voice off - not easy. I was able to see the GP that evening and she said muscle strain. Funny, when you have a health scare, you can easily become over-sensitive to every little thing happening with your body.
Yesterday, 7 days after seeing the GP, she calls me to say the lab has a preliminary report, and that is that the black is actually MOLD growing on my skin, under my nail! Fabulous!! I'm so much more at ease, but not all the way there. Waiting to get that final report from the GP (weeks ahead yet, they're still culturing it) and to hear about the biopsy from the podiatrist.
I may have to have my toenail removed - that I can deal with.
I don't wish this last week of waiting and dread on anyone.