Alexa

Once there is a rot, it doesn't go away. It has to be cut off, and sooner-the better.

You say that 'patch' is dry (I assume you are talking about the soil in the pot?). If you recently re-potted, the rot may have been there already and perhaps not so visible. If you potted into a mix you mentioned on another thread - post about your potting mix -

you need to read about well-draining potting mix.

No sorry, I mean what I believe to be the rot is dry.

Stem rot is is usually caused by fungus, and appears as dark brown-black spots/areas. Fungi keeps growing under the surface of the skin and for this reason is often worse than it appears from the outside. Fungi spores often enter thru any damage. If the plants is over-watered, the leaves and/or stems are 'bloated' and spores can easily germinate and spread further. Since skin is quite protective, most of it grows inside and therefore it doesn't look too bad. Black areas are dead or dying and fungi moves onto fresher parts 'to eat'.

Small rot sometimes could dry out, but one has to be sure it is small on inside too. 'Surgery' is usually best way of getting rid of it. Plant should be cut until healthy tissue - which, unfortunately, is sometimes a lot more than expected. Knife should be sterilized (wiping after every cut with rubbing alcohol works well) and damaged parts disposed off.

I am curious as to why you cut off some leaves? Were they rotted? I let the leaves fall off on their own, but I know some others remove leaves that are dying (normally) and look ugly.

Your plant is showing a problem on the stem and I hope it has not spread too far inside the plant. If your roots still look good, don't discard the stem after the surgery that Rina mentioned. Hopefully you won't have to decapitate, but I mention this just in case. Put the stem in a separate pot and see what happens.

These plants are more resilient than you would think. This one was eaten nearly in half by what I suspect was a palm rat.

I saved and rerooted the top. And mostly because I never got around to digging up the eaten stem, it went into survival mode!