I know it may seem old to some people but I do not feel old - I am 48 now. Back in 2010 I noticed a mole on my neck that started bleeding when I dried myself with a towel or when it rubbed on my shirt collar. I went to the doctor who said it was probably nothing but he would refer me to a consultant... he forgot and 6 weeks later I rang and chased it and got an appointment in early December 2010 I think it was.
The consultant took one look and said it was malignant melanoma... I was a bit worried but thought 'it is only skin cancer, whip it off and all is good'. How wrong can you be! I was in the process of moving my family down for a dream life in Dorset at this time having started work down there earlier in 2010. We were moving house mid December so I declined the operation that week and the offer of having it on Christmas eve and eventually had the 'mole' removed between Christmas and New Year. The biopsy showed it was melanoma... and worse, it was 1.2mm thick (not massive but deep enough to mean it could have spread invisibly) so I was asked to go back for a full surgical procedure in Jan 2011(Wide local excision) to remove a chunk of my shoulder/back/neck area about 5 inches by 3 inches. Also having a Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) at the same time to see if it had spread.
The SLNB came back clear so again relief all round. Unfortunately I contracted an infection in my armpit when they did the sentinel lymph node biopsy so had to go back in to Poole hospital. The doctor refused to admit it was in infection for a few days so it got worse - like a melon under my armpit that was on fire! I ended up passing out and fitting in hospital before they operated again, leaving me with what they called an open wound under my armpit requiring internal packing which was excruciatingly painful to have done and left me unable to put my arm down and on morphine for two months... Anyway that was a small problem and once it healed I was fine (or so I thought).
2012 - Christmas 2011 and new year had passed by, had a great time and looking forward to a bright new year without health issues... I had a check up in Feb with a wonderful skin cancer specialist nurse who felt a tiny lump in my left clavicle. She got a consultant and I was referred to have a biopsy. Very small node probably nothing I was told. So an operation was hastily arranged to remove what the ultrasound scan showed to be two enlarged nodes. Biopsy came back positive on one node and the other was too close to my lungs to operate on safely so I was told it would have to stay there. The treatment was going to be radiotherapy as no effective chemo or biological treatment was available then. I was informed radiotherapy was a 50/50 shot and embarked on a rather tiring and sore process for the next 6 weeks. Subsequent CT scans showed I was again all clear and all was good in the world.
2013 - my wife noticed something on my back that looked like a big blackhead in Jan 2013. Turned out it was a metastatic melanoma so quick operation in Feb, removed and once again all was well. A quiet and stable period at last.
2014 - nervous and a bit worried as every new year had bought a new problem for the past three years. I had a scan in august 2013 to make sure that a year after my radiotherapy finished it was all OK so I was reasonably confident of an all clear but those doubts remained of course. I had been getting headaches though so MRI scan was undertaken and when I was told it was all clear I nearly cheered (internally of course because I try not to show emotions remember!)
June 2014 - I had a call to say my mother was very ill - fluid on her lungs and very weak. Then she had further tests and they found cancer in her liver... I was told to go and see her quickly as she was very ill. I arrived to be told by the doctor she had lung cancer, spread to her liver and that it was terminal and she had a few weeks to live. She was moved to a hospice and whilst I was sitting by her bedside I decided to do my monthly lymph node check. Sometimes fate (I am not a religious person) deals you a shitty hand - I was about to get a really shitty one. As I probed my clavicle, I felt a lump. I kept it to myself as I sat by my mother watching her life slowly slip away. She died less than three days later and I travelled home. I immediately got an appointment for a check up and from that a biopsy was done immediately. I then travelled back up north to my mothers funeral... still keeping quiet to almost everyone about my biopsy. My father came back down with us to stay for a week or two after the funeral and I returned to work. A few days in I got a call, the biopsy was positive and I needed scans immediately to make sure it had not spread... had a CT scan the next week and a day after when I was at work came a call - very sorry, it is not good news, it is in your lymph system in your neck, your lymph nodes in your armpit, also spread to your chest and signs of melanoma in the membrane of your lungs. My lungs - I only really feared it going to my brain and lungs... The next day I had my brain scan (MRI) and thankfully that was fine - one out of two was clear at least I guess if I think positively (which everyone tells me I should do).
An appointment was made quickly with the consultant oncologist and Verumafenib was prescribed which II have been taking for a week now.
So - that is 2010 to this week. A happy tale indeed! I have not spewed this out for sympathy - I am hoping it will help me somehow. Anyway, more to come maybe, we shall see... watch this space if you want :)
