Hi, I am a 42 yr old female, mother, partner, carer, bereaved parent (5yrs ago now) and have just been diagnosed with a malignant melanoma.
I have met with the plastic surgeons who are going to do a wide excision surgery and lymph node biopsy, with a skin graft from my right thigh onto my right ankle where the melanoma is/was. It was recorded as 1.4mm thickness and I’m just doing my best to process all this at the moment. My first thoughts being my children, of course.
I’ve chosen not to tell them right now as we’re in the first stages so why worry them, is my thinking. I have 3 boys 22,16 and 4 and my Angel baby Lyra, who I would be turning 6 in February. I am so scared, freaked out my the diagnosis itself but putting on a brave face for this little team around me who depend on their mum so much. The only time I get to speak is once the kids have gone to bed as obviously I’ve chosen not to tell them right now, they know I’ll be going in to have my surgery but that’s it. I’ve just said ‘precautionary’ to take some more skin from when I first had the mole removed.
I haven’t let myself fall down the rabbit hole regarding this as I’m too scared for my mental health honestly and every forum or network I’ve found so far only operates during working hours, so find
g it really difficult to connect with anyone at this time, when I’m able to speak/message. Sending well wishes to everyone fighting this right now and have lots of love thoughts and prayers going yo way, We got this!!!
Hi Kimoshde55fc and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community, and I was diagnosed with melanoma 9 years ago, so have an idea of what you're feeling right now.
The online community is divided into different support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join us over in the melanoma group as you'll then connect directly with others who have the same type of cancer as you.
To join, just click on the link I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
There is also a dedicated thread within the cancer chat group that you're currently in called awake and up all night, so next time you're up late or can't sleep you could pop on there for a chat.
It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
