Dermatofibroma: Another Mito Thing?

[Guest guest]

Dear Listmates,

On Oct. 28, I had my second muscle biopsy, and removal of an adacent

lipoma near the deltoid muscle. Almost as an afterthought, I asked the

surgeon to remove this raised red lesion that had appeared around 1997,

on the left breast, below the clavicle.

There has never been any skin cancer in my family, so I was not worried

at all.

(BTW, I had my best experience with anesthesia ever, a local with

sedation, Versed, I think. I came to right away, and felt fine.)

I have had, however, nasty reactions to the tape, bandages and

steri-strips.

The red lesion turned out to be a dermatofibroma, benign, but which the

surgeon said to watch very carefully, because it can turn into a very

aggressive malignancy. I read that it becomes a dermatofibrosarcoma,

which kills 90% of patients in two years! Right now it almost looks as

if it had never even been removed, I guess because of the allergic

reactions to the bandages and tape.

Has anyone else ever had this? This almost sounds to me like one of

those weird mito things.

I asked the surgeon if he knew where this came from. He said perhaps

from an insect bite. He rolled up his sleeve and showed me a very tiny

flesh-colored bump on his forearm, which he said was the same thing,

except my lesion was almost an inch long and red. They did not resemble

even cousins, much less twins.

By the way, my neuro sent me to this surgeon, who is a plastic surgeon,

and who is on the board which creates the national board exam in

surgery. My family thought it very amusing that I was to be treated by a

plastic surgeon. Haha. Well, usually the anesthesiologists run in the

opposite direction when they see me coming because of a post-surgical

coma I had once after knee surgery.

A very jocular older anes., with what sounded like a Russian accent,

showed up, and said he had read my " bible " ---the forms you fill out

pre-op. He said that if I felt something, that he would not feel it a

bit! I then asked him if he were Russian, because that sounded like a

Russian joke to me. No, he said that he was from Romania, and that an

international organization had paid the Communist government to let him

leave for Israel. He said that a ransom had been paid for him. He was

very jocular and very serious at the same time.

When I got to the OR, a masked nurse came over to me and asked me what

surgery I was having, I told her I was having a complete facelift. I

could just see her eyes, and like Queen , she was not amused.

Five minutes later, she asked again, and this time I gave her the true

details. Gee, I was just trying a little levity....

Just wanted to share this, and see if anyone has had a similar

experience.

Take care.

S.

[Guest guest]

I'm glad the skin lesion was benign. I've not heard of this before.

laurie

> From: BDS31@...

> Reply-To:

> Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 17:12:42 -0500

> To: adultmito ,

> Subject: Dermatofibroma: Another " Mito Thing " ?

>

> Dear Listmates,

> On Oct. 28, I had my second muscle biopsy, and removal of an adacent

> lipoma near the deltoid muscle. Almost as an afterthought, I asked the

> surgeon to remove this raised red lesion that had appeared around 1997,

> on the left breast, below the clavicle.

> There has never been any skin cancer in my family, so I was not worried

> at all.

>

> (BTW, I had my best experience with anesthesia ever, a local with

> sedation, Versed, I think. I came to right away, and felt fine.)

> I have had, however, nasty reactions to the tape, bandages and

> steri-strips.

>

> The red lesion turned out to be a dermatofibroma, benign, but which the

> surgeon said to watch very carefully, because it can turn into a very

> aggressive malignancy. I read that it becomes a dermatofibrosarcoma,

> which kills 90% of patients in two years! Right now it almost looks as

> if it had never even been removed, I guess because of the allergic

> reactions to the bandages and tape.

>

> Has anyone else ever had this? This almost sounds to me like one of

> those weird mito things.

> I asked the surgeon if he knew where this came from. He said perhaps

> from an insect bite. He rolled up his sleeve and showed me a very tiny

> flesh-colored bump on his forearm, which he said was the same thing,

> except my lesion was almost an inch long and red. They did not resemble

> even cousins, much less twins.

>

> By the way, my neuro sent me to this surgeon, who is a plastic surgeon,

> and who is on the board which creates the national board exam in

> surgery. My family thought it very amusing that I was to be treated by a

> plastic surgeon. Haha. Well, usually the anesthesiologists run in the

> opposite direction when they see me coming because of a post-surgical

> coma I had once after knee surgery.

> A very jocular older anes., with what sounded like a Russian accent,

> showed up, and said he had read my " bible " ---the forms you fill out

> pre-op. He said that if I felt something, that he would not feel it a

> bit! I then asked him if he were Russian, because that sounded like a

> Russian joke to me. No, he said that he was from Romania, and that an

> international organization had paid the Communist government to let him

> leave for Israel. He said that a ransom had been paid for him. He was

> very jocular and very serious at the same time.

> When I got to the OR, a masked nurse came over to me and asked me what

> surgery I was having, I told her I was having a complete facelift. I

> could just see her eyes, and like Queen , she was not amused.

> Five minutes later, she asked again, and this time I gave her the true

> details. Gee, I was just trying a little levity....

> Just wanted to share this, and see if anyone has had a similar

> experience.

> Take care.

> S.

>

>

>

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