” ‘What could happen in 3 months?’ I thought. Apparently a lot,” Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave shared in an Instagram post Tuesday
Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave revealed that she has been diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma — just months after removing a mole from her back earlier this year.
On Instagram, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star shared the process that led to her diagnosis Tuesday.
“Despite my anxiety, I listened to the doctors and went in for my 3-month skin check last week since my previous melanoma,” Mellencamp Arroyave, 41, captioned a photo of a scar on her back and a bandage closely next to it.
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Mellencamp Arroyave previously experienced a skin cancer scare in March. Her results revealed that she had melanoma in situ, which means that a tumor has not invaded beyond the outer layer of the skin. It is the earliest form of melanoma and is “the easiest to treat and almost always curable,” according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
However, because she “had another abnormal spot” near her last one, her doctors decided to do a biopsy.
“I got the call this morning: Stage 2 melanoma,” she informed fans Tuesday.
She added that next Wednesday she’ll “go to an oncologist to have it cut out and come up with a game plan on next steps” following “some additional testing and biopsies of other spots nearby that were taken today.”
“Moral of this story,” added Mellencamp Arroyave, “if a doctor says, ‘come in every 3 months’ please go in every 3 months. I so badly wanted to blow this off. ‘What could happen in 3 months?’ I thought. Apparently a lot.”
Mellencamp Arroyave shared on her Instagram Story that the call from her doctor came shortly after her workout. She posted from the doctor’s office after being asked to come “right in.”
“I’m facing my fears and making sure I’m staying on top of these doctor’s appointments,” she added.
Mellencamp Arroyave then shared close-up images of the area on her back that was diagnosed. On one photo, she wrote: “For those asking for before pics. This was before the removal. This one was melanoma in situ.”
On a second photo, she noted the change in her skin: “This one is stage 2. Before pic. This little brown dot was not there 3 months ago.”
She continued to urge her followers to go get their skin checked.
“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 wrote on Instagram. “This has been such a wakeup call for me, and I hope to all of you, to love and protect the skin you’re in.”
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