How it all began ...

I get asked a lot how I found my cancer and the back story to where I am at today.  As with anyone who has cancer, it is always an interesting or crazy story. I apologize in advance for how long this post may get but I have a lot to cover!
So about 7 1/2 years ago I woke up one day and I had these red marks on my feet. They were pretty large and tender and I started to think they were bug bites. I got a little panicked and thought maybe they were bed bugs, but when I looked them up it definitely wasn't. I scheduled to go see my family dermatologist and get them checked out. I went in and he said that they were not bug bites but that they were hives. He prescribed a round of predinsone (steroid) and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment. I completed the round of steroids and they continued to be worse. I went to my follow up and he said there isn't anything else they can do and to maybe see an allergy specialist. While at this appointment I had him look at a mole on my forehead that was growing and changing rapidly and just was plain old ugly in my eyes. He looked at it briefly and sent me on my way saying it was nothing to be concerned with.
I left that appointment just knowing that what was happening wasn't right. I scheduled an appointment with an allergy specialist and my hives just continued to worsen, spreading to my hands and arms and then eventually to my neck and face. Not very fun, or attractive. The allergist didn't give me any real answers, just told me what I knew I was already allergic to. By this time I had had the hives for over 2 months, constant. I tried to not let them bother me, and actually just got used to having them. Pretty pathetic actually. One day I went snowboarding and it was a warm day up on the mountain and I came home and just crashed basically. When I woke up I was literally covered, head to toe, in hives. Heat made them worse, but this was just too much. I called my mom and told her I was going to the ER and she met me there. We checked in and they said that they were hives and that since I had already done a round of steroids there wasn't anything else they could do and sent me on my way - in and out in 30 min. ER record in my mind. I really knew something wasn't right and decided to take things to the next level. I called U of U Dermatology and asked if they had a hive specialist - and they did! I go the next available appointment and waited patiently for that day.
My appointment with Dr. Douglas Powell was finally here and I felt that he truly wanted to help me. He took a biopsy of one to make sure they were in fact hives (they were) and we began running through treatment options to help lessen the hives and get me more comfortable. I started seeing him every two weeks to see how things were working. The meds would help reduce the hives, but they never really went away. He kept telling me that there was something happening with my immune system but we just can't pinpoint it, but we will keep trying to figure it out. At one of the appointments I had him look at the crazy mole on my forehead/hairline and he said he wanted to watch it and then possibly biopsy it. The night before my next appointment I was working a wedding at my work and was cutting chocolate cake and a fellow server came up to me and thought I had gotten chocolate cake on my forehead, but nope it was the damn mole! I was determined to get the mole removed the next day, no matter what!
I walked into my next appointment, determined to have him take the mole off and before I could say anything he said that he can see that the mole changed in the two weeks he had seen me and that we were going to take it. So we did just that. A few stitches later and I was on my way. The results came back abnormal - not so much cancer - but that they didn't get it all so I had to have more excised. A few more stitches later, on my way again. Results came back again, abnormal - not cancer - and still not all clear and need to excise more. So we took more and at this appointment we noticed some additional moles starting to grow next to the original site and those were taken as well. At this appointment my doctor said that although it isn't coming back as cancer it was acting like cancer and we need to treat it as such. It was in that removal that it did in fact come back as Melanoma. I was then sent to Huntsman as it was now out of his realm of care and he needed to pass me on to the specialists. I was told on February 10, 2009 that I had Melanoma.
The next appointments were lined up and surgery scheduled to remove the entire mole area (MOHS surgery) as well as a sentinel lymph node dissection. I still didn't realize how serious it all was at this point. I was thinking this would be a in and out procedure and I might need to be off work for a few days. I was corrected pretty fast and then was told I wouldn't be able to lift more than 10lbs for a couple weeks... Oh wow, this was a bit more serious than I thought. Surgery was scheduled and when it came I think I just didn't know what I was in for. When I woke up I had a giant bandage on my head and a lot of shaved hair. I felt terrible, my entire body felt like I had run a marathon - every muscle was sore due to my body clenching during surgery for some reason, possibly the cauterizing tool they used. Regardless, I was miserable. The removal was large, huge even. Big enough that they couldn't close it so I had to have reconstructive surgery a few days later. At the consult for that appointment we got the first look at the hole and there was a sponge sewn in my head!! Literally! The plastic surgeon removed the sponge, leaving the giant hole. My mom told me I wasn't allowed to look at it, and I listened, what?! Now I wish I had seen it, but regardless I didn't.
My reconstructive surgery went well and luckily was done by an amazing surgeon and was able to avoid a skin graft. I was left with an 8 1/2 inch scar and a new hair line. I like to say that I kind of got an eyebrow lift at 26.
Recovery went well and I bounced back fast. It wasn't until after surgery that I understood that I was put at a Stage 3b cancer. That kind of took my breath away and made it all a bit too real. My lymph nodes were clear, but the cancer had found a way to spread locally which made me a stage 3. I was offered some treatment options but at that time I just wasn't in a space that I could do them with confidence so I decided to do observation and if the cancer did come back I would do anything they said. I then had clear scan after clear scans, for all 5 years that they observe you. I had graduated to just skin checks, thinking I was done with this beast. It wasn't until an MRI following a car accident in August 2014 showed an abnormal lymph node. And here we are today. Round 2 of this crazy cancer.
As for the hives, as they tend to get lost in the story, they began to decrease significantly after my first biopsy of the mole. After my final surgeries in 2009 they were non existent. The hives were directly related to the cancer and was my bodies way of signally something was wrong. I knew something wasn't right and if I had just listened to my first (and terrible I might say) dermatologist I truly may not be here today. I had not been well for a long time, just couldn't pin point why. If it weren't for the hives and me listening to my body telling me that something wasn't right, I don't know if we would have found the cancer until it was far too late. So listen to your bodies, if you feel something isn't right don't ignore it. Hives are directly related to your immune system and this isn't the first time I have heard of them being directly related to cancer and signalling cancer somewhere. Just listen and be proactive with your own health. You know your body the best.

Here are some pictures from then. The mole (the best pictures I have of it) is on my hair line, roughly the size of a pencil eraser. It started as a small dot, like a pin head. It was discolored, raised and changed often. I am lucky it was in my hairline where I could see it too.

Summer 2008

I know it is hard to see.. It blends with my hair pretty well

Here are my surgery pictures 3/2009
Left: Lymph node dissection scars (there is a scar in front of my ear too but you can't see it)

Right: After reconstructive surgery. The right (where the hair is shaved) is the actual Melanoma scar, the rest is the reconstructive scar. They rotated my scalp to close the wound, shifting my hairline down lower on my forehead. The skin/hair at the bottom is from the top of the scar line. 

 Do a skin check. Wear sunscreen. Have regular check ups. Be smart. They can't say if my melanoma is from the sun or genetics, regardless I have it. Just be smart!