Skip to main content
Chief Medical Editor Message

Life Doesn’t End

April 2004
It was in 1963 when Edith Yarnall, a 44-year-old mother and wife in the prime of life, felt the bump on the back of her leg. “I was sliding across the seat in the car,” she explains, “when I felt the back of my left leg ‘bump’ over the upholstery piping.” After reaching around to feel a small growth on her leg, Edith decided to observe the mole on her calf to determine if anything was really wrong. “I watched it for about 2 weeks,” she says. “During that time, it became bumpier looking, and portions of it turned blackish.” The school nurse at the school where she was the principal’s secretary recommended she see a surgeon, who quickly scheduled surgery. The malignant melanoma was removed, and later surgery ensued to remove lymph nodes in the left groin. To repair the gaping hole on her calf that remained after surgery, doctors grafted skin from Edith’s thigh. Next, came a grueling 21 days of lying still in a hospital bed so that the graft would “take.” “I blame the melanoma on too many weekends spent at Point Lookout Beach on Long Island,” explains Edith. “Even though I was always under a beach umbrella reading, my legs were too long to benefit from the shade it cast.” Even today at age 85, my grandmother still has what she unaffectionately terms her “fat leg,” due to the permanent lymphedema she must contend with, and each day she fights with a compression stocking to gain some relief from the fluid build-up. Yet, for an immigrant from Germany who arrived in the United States at age 13 — not knowing a word of English or barely anyone in the country, and rising to become the class president in 1939 in her senior year at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia — overcoming a bout of melanoma was but one of many lifelong challenges my grandmother would successfully overcome. Thank God that her awareness, a nurse’s recommendation and a surgeon’s skill have kept her with us these past 41 years, allowing her to share so many special things with her grandchildren as only a grandparent can do – even if that special something was only a quick visit each week to watch the “Muppets” together. Her unending patience, compassion and infinite interest in learning have enabled her to heal a daughter’s broken family in need of fixing and remain steadfast in caring for a husband who was dying from Alzheimer’s. I’m sure that thanks to the vigilance that many of you exhibit daily during your patient visits, countless families have similar stories to tell and years, or decades, more to enjoy with their loved ones. In honor of Melanoma Month in May, I dedicate this column to my grandmother, Edit Yarnall, and I invite you to share with your patients an education tool that we’ve designed for them, which you can photocopy from page 69. Larisa Hubbs Executive Editor lhubbs@hmpcommunications.com
It was in 1963 when Edith Yarnall, a 44-year-old mother and wife in the prime of life, felt the bump on the back of her leg. “I was sliding across the seat in the car,” she explains, “when I felt the back of my left leg ‘bump’ over the upholstery piping.” After reaching around to feel a small growth on her leg, Edith decided to observe the mole on her calf to determine if anything was really wrong. “I watched it for about 2 weeks,” she says. “During that time, it became bumpier looking, and portions of it turned blackish.” The school nurse at the school where she was the principal’s secretary recommended she see a surgeon, who quickly scheduled surgery. The malignant melanoma was removed, and later surgery ensued to remove lymph nodes in the left groin. To repair the gaping hole on her calf that remained after surgery, doctors grafted skin from Edith’s thigh. Next, came a grueling 21 days of lying still in a hospital bed so that the graft would “take.” “I blame the melanoma on too many weekends spent at Point Lookout Beach on Long Island,” explains Edith. “Even though I was always under a beach umbrella reading, my legs were too long to benefit from the shade it cast.” Even today at age 85, my grandmother still has what she unaffectionately terms her “fat leg,” due to the permanent lymphedema she must contend with, and each day she fights with a compression stocking to gain some relief from the fluid build-up. Yet, for an immigrant from Germany who arrived in the United States at age 13 — not knowing a word of English or barely anyone in the country, and rising to become the class president in 1939 in her senior year at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia — overcoming a bout of melanoma was but one of many lifelong challenges my grandmother would successfully overcome. Thank God that her awareness, a nurse’s recommendation and a surgeon’s skill have kept her with us these past 41 years, allowing her to share so many special things with her grandchildren as only a grandparent can do – even if that special something was only a quick visit each week to watch the “Muppets” together. Her unending patience, compassion and infinite interest in learning have enabled her to heal a daughter’s broken family in need of fixing and remain steadfast in caring for a husband who was dying from Alzheimer’s. I’m sure that thanks to the vigilance that many of you exhibit daily during your patient visits, countless families have similar stories to tell and years, or decades, more to enjoy with their loved ones. In honor of Melanoma Month in May, I dedicate this column to my grandmother, Edit Yarnall, and I invite you to share with your patients an education tool that we’ve designed for them, which you can photocopy from page 69. Larisa Hubbs Executive Editor lhubbs@hmpcommunications.com
It was in 1963 when Edith Yarnall, a 44-year-old mother and wife in the prime of life, felt the bump on the back of her leg. “I was sliding across the seat in the car,” she explains, “when I felt the back of my left leg ‘bump’ over the upholstery piping.” After reaching around to feel a small growth on her leg, Edith decided to observe the mole on her calf to determine if anything was really wrong. “I watched it for about 2 weeks,” she says. “During that time, it became bumpier looking, and portions of it turned blackish.” The school nurse at the school where she was the principal’s secretary recommended she see a surgeon, who quickly scheduled surgery. The malignant melanoma was removed, and later surgery ensued to remove lymph nodes in the left groin. To repair the gaping hole on her calf that remained after surgery, doctors grafted skin from Edith’s thigh. Next, came a grueling 21 days of lying still in a hospital bed so that the graft would “take.” “I blame the melanoma on too many weekends spent at Point Lookout Beach on Long Island,” explains Edith. “Even though I was always under a beach umbrella reading, my legs were too long to benefit from the shade it cast.” Even today at age 85, my grandmother still has what she unaffectionately terms her “fat leg,” due to the permanent lymphedema she must contend with, and each day she fights with a compression stocking to gain some relief from the fluid build-up. Yet, for an immigrant from Germany who arrived in the United States at age 13 — not knowing a word of English or barely anyone in the country, and rising to become the class president in 1939 in her senior year at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia — overcoming a bout of melanoma was but one of many lifelong challenges my grandmother would successfully overcome. Thank God that her awareness, a nurse’s recommendation and a surgeon’s skill have kept her with us these past 41 years, allowing her to share so many special things with her grandchildren as only a grandparent can do – even if that special something was only a quick visit each week to watch the “Muppets” together. Her unending patience, compassion and infinite interest in learning have enabled her to heal a daughter’s broken family in need of fixing and remain steadfast in caring for a husband who was dying from Alzheimer’s. I’m sure that thanks to the vigilance that many of you exhibit daily during your patient visits, countless families have similar stories to tell and years, or decades, more to enjoy with their loved ones. In honor of Melanoma Month in May, I dedicate this column to my grandmother, Edit Yarnall, and I invite you to share with your patients an education tool that we’ve designed for them, which you can photocopy from page 69. Larisa Hubbs Executive Editor lhubbs@hmpcommunications.com