Current:Home > BackTeddi Mellencamp undergoes 'pretty painful' surgery to treat melanoma-LoTradeCoin
Teddi Mellencamp undergoes 'pretty painful' surgery to treat melanoma
View Date:2024-12-24 00:14:25
Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave is on the road to recovery after undergoing another surgery to treat her skin cancer.
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" alumna, 42, provided fans with an update Wednesday on Instagram.
“Surgery went well!” she captioned a carousel of photos and a video of her in a hospital bed. “I specifically went through a ‘wide excision melanoma, soft tissue defect reconstruction with adjacent tissue rearrangement.’ Basically they cut out the area of my shoulder and replaced it with a flap of skin from below on my back.”
In one photo, she flashes a thumbs up, and in another, her back is shown with pink scars and blue markings post-surgery.
“The outpouring of love and prayers in the comments and DMs has left me speechless (which is tough),” she wrote. “I wish I could respond to everyone but please know I am forever grateful.”
In the video, Mellencamp said she was just out of surgery and thanked her doctors for doing “such a great job.”
Eating a saltine cracker and soda, she described being on the “struggle bus” and said her back was “pretty painful.”
“Now I'm just waiting to be discharged to the nursing facility,” she wrote, and that “the pain and discomfort are all worth it.”
She added: “Please get your skin checked. I promise you do not want to go through this.”
Teddi Mellencamp's skin cancer journey, timeline
Mellencamp has been open about her skin cancer journey.
She shared on Instagram earlier this month that immunotherapy treatment "did not work on my melanomas." She wrote: "I had a wide excision removal on my most recent melanoma last week to see if it did and sadly it did not."
According to the American Cancer Society, immunotherapy is a "treatment that uses a person's own immune system to fight cancer. Immunotherapy can boost or change how the immune system works so it can find and attack cancer cells."
Mellencamp and her doctors, she wrote, decided that "the best next course of action" is to have surgery "to remove a larger portion of (the) problematic area."
"I don’t like going under and my anxiety is popping off but I have faith all will be OK and that the reason this is happening to me is because I am able to raise awareness," she wrote.
"After surgery, when god willing my margins are clear, we will continue to monitor my body closely every 3 months," Mellencamp added. "In the meantime, I am so looking forward to spending Christmas with my loved ones and hope this is a reminder to book your skin checks for the new year."
Mellencamp shared her Stage 2 melanoma diagnosis last year, writing on Instagram: "Moral of this story: if a doctor says, 'come in every 3 months' please go in every 3 months. I so badly wanted to blow this off."
"I continue to share this journey because I was a '90s teen, putting baby oil and iodine on my skin to tan it. Never wearing sunscreen or getting my moles checked until I was 40 years old," she added. "This has been such a wake-up call for me, and I hope to all of you, to love and protect the skin you’re in."
What is melanoma?
Melanoma accounts for about 1% of skin cancers but is more likely than other types to grow and spread, making it more dangerous. It "causes a large majority of skin cancer deaths," according to the American Cancer Society.
It occurs when "melanocytes (the cells that give the skin its tan or brown color) start to grow out of control." For people with lighter skin tones, melanomas are more likely to start on the legs for women and on the chest and back for men. Other common sites are the neck and face.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, "When skin cancer develops in people of color, it’s often in a late stage when diagnosed." For Black people, "skin cancer often develops on parts of the body that get less sun like the bottom of the foot, lower leg and palms."
Should you get screened for skin cancer?Here's what to know.
veryGood! (9941)
Related
- QTM Community Introduce
- Ever wanted to stay in the Barbie DreamHouse? Now you can, but there's a catch
- Missing Florida children found abandoned at Wisconsin park; 2 arrested
- Selling Sunset's Jason Oppenheim and Model Marie Lou Nurk Break Up After 10 Months of Dating
- When does 'Dune: Prophecy' come out? Release date, cast, where to watch prequel series
- South Miami Approves Solar Roof Rules, Inspired by a Teenager
- Top Chef Star Gail Simmons Shares a Go-to Dessert That Even the Pickiest Eaters Will Love
- Dr. Anthony Fauci to join the faculty at Georgetown University, calling the choice a no-brainer
- Mississippi governor intent on income tax cut even if states receive less federal money
- California’s New Cap-and-Trade Plan Heads for a Vote—with Tradeoffs
Ranking
- Martin Scorsese on faith in filmmaking, ‘The Saints’ and what his next movie might be
- Supreme Court sets higher bar for prosecuting threats under First Amendment
- Katharine McPhee's Smashing New Haircut Will Inspire Your Summer 'Do
- American Climate Video: A Pastor Taught His Church to See a Blessing in the Devastation of Hurricane Michael
- NASCAR Championship race live updates, how to watch: Cup title on the line at Phoenix
- Fading Winters, Hotter Summers Make the Northeast America’s Fastest Warming Region
- Was a Federal Scientist’s Dismissal an 11th-hour Bid to Give Climate Denial Long-Term Legitimacy?
- Alex Rodriguez Shares Gum Disease Diagnosis
Recommendation
-
Congress is revisiting UFOs: Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials
-
Was a Federal Scientist’s Dismissal an 11th-hour Bid to Give Climate Denial Long-Term Legitimacy?
-
Costco starts cracking down on membership sharing
-
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signs law to protect doctors providing out-of-state telehealth abortion pill prescriptions
-
Can I take on 2 separate jobs in the same company? Ask HR
-
Trump Demoted FERC Chairman Chatterjee After He Expressed Support for Carbon Pricing
-
ARPA-E on Track to Boost U.S. Energy, Report Says. Trump Wants to Nix It.
-
As Solar Pushes Electricity Prices Negative, 3 Solutions for California’s Power Grid