Ripples in my melanoma pond

My boys had a doctor's appointment today. Luckily it was just a check up and not an ER follow up visit. (Very familiar with those around here).  In the course of the visit, I told the pediatrician about my melanoma diagnosis.  My dermatologist and Stanford's melanoma docs both recommended this so I followed through with their advice.

His support of me as a patient and a parent was wonderful.  He told me that he didn't see any suspicious sites on the boys and said he thought I'd be a much better resource for catching them anyways.  I didn't think he was minimizing his skill but more affirming how vigilant he knows I am now with watching their skin. I guess all this experience is worth something.

The interesting, unexpected part of this conversation was his comments about the boy's Vitamin D levels. Ok, self flogging ahead. I had added VitD to my daily vitamins after doing extensive research on this because I know my absorption of it from the sun is non-existent these days.  And yet, I never transferred this to my children.  I did not take into fact that their VitD levels have probably dropped even more this summer and I was already pretty good with sunscreen before my diagnosis.  Sheesh, talk about being self centered. The new, melanoma me freely told the doctor this and asked for his recommendation of VitD supplements for the boys.

I am not going to post his response for many reasons. #1 my boys are young but very skinny by genetics, so that plays a big factor.  And #2 I don't want anyone taking my blog post as medical advice or replacement for actually talking to their children's doctor.  Our kids are so different.  I also live in one of the sunniest states in the USA, which is another factor when added to how many activities we participate in outdoors.

I seriously worried about my diagnosis and my kids as in finding spots on their bodies. I never considered the VitD issue for them.  Small ripples in this huge pond of melanoma.  Again, this affects me and all of us in ways we don't always see. Luckily I now can see this one.  One more ripple.....