Hi
Warm welcome to the Mac Community, not a club anyone wants to join :-/
Deciding what to tell your grandchildren about your cancer is difficult. An open, honest approach is usually best. Even very young children can sense when something is wrong, and their fears can sometimes be worse than the reality.
How much you tell your grandchildren will depend on their age and how mature they are. It may be best to start by giving only small amounts of information, and gradually tell them more to build up a picture of your illness.
At the age of 6 and 8 they will probably accept the information you give them without too many tricky questions but do try and get them involved in the discussion to help them understand why you needed this carried out.
Macmillan produce a booklet 'Talking to Children and Teenagers About Cancer' which you can download/read by clicking the cover image below.
Noticed you have joined the Melanoma Group - So if you have any questions regarding surgery, pathology results or any follow on treatments don't hesitate to ask in the group.
Hope this is of some help for now, take care, G n' J
Hi and a second welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to read that you've been diagnosed with melanoma. How are you coping with this news?
I can see that you've joined the melanoma group and I'm sure you'll find it a great place to ask questions, share experiences and get support from others with this type of cancer.
Clicking on the link I've created will take you back there where you can introduce yourself and post questions after selecting 'start a discussion' and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
I can see that Dreamthief has already given you a link to the booklet on 'How to talk to children and teenagers when an adult has cancer' which should help you explain what you're going through. If you want a booklet that explains what melanoma is then click on the image below. Although it isn't written for children, you could use it to help explain what melanoma is.
Do you have a date yet for your follow up excision, called a wide local excision (WLE)?
When you have a minute it, it would be really useful if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit 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.
I hope to see you over in the melanoma group and I'll keep an eye out for you.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Sorry, that's my fault. I thought because you said you'd been diagnosed with melanoma you'd already had a biopsy and the excision you were talking about was the WLE.
I'll be keeping everything crossed then that this doesn't turn out to be another melanoma 
It must be so upsetting for you having almost got to the 5 years all clear only to find another possible one 
Please do still join us over in the group as there are others there who are waiting to find out if they've been diagnosed with melanoma.
Edit - You might want to hold off discussing cancer with your grandchildren until after you've got the biopsy results. Hopefully you won't have to 
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Well you learn something everyday! I've never heard of being able to diagnose melanoma by shining a bright light on it before.
I hope your op goes well this afternoon. Don't forget to ask how soon you should get the results back. Most people report between 2-6 weeks but things might be different at the moment.
I think in your place I'd just tell the grandchildren that the doctor has had to remove a piece of skin from your leg to have a better look at it. Then if it does come back as melanoma you can move on to explain about cancer.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Intrigued by this detection of melanoma by light I've had a look around the various reputable melanoma websites but can't find any reference to it. Unless it is a very new way of diagnosing, as far as I'm aware the only absolute way to know if a lesion is a melanoma or not is to examine the cells under a microscope.
My experience was the direct opposite of yours in that my consultant was absolutely certain my lesion wasn't a melanoma. I don't know who was more surprised, him or me, when it came back as one! He was very well respected, had written books about melanoma and given lectures, so I'm just trying to give you hope that it may well turn out to be benign as looks aren't everything.
Let me know when you get your results and enjoy tomorrow with your grandchildren.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
