I don't know if this is what I should be writing I've never been on something like this before so excuse me if a bable. I had 2 moles removed 7 weeks ago yesterday I had my consultation to get my results and unfortunately it was not the results I was hoping for, the mole on my neck has come back as melonoma and I have to go back in 3 weeks time and have a 2cm margin removed from where my mole was. And don't know much more information other than this
I am 34yrs old I've never had cancer before and I am petrified my mind is on over drive. The consultant who gave me my results was great and he asked me if I had any questions but I was in shock I could barely speak all I did was cry.
If anyone can give me any advice on what I should be asking it would be a great help
I have googled some questions to ask but I then get carried away into reading about melonoma and end up with such a bad head. I'm trying to stay positive but it is easier said than Done as j was so positive before I got my results and now I feel so upset and struggling to come to terms with things
Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to read that you've recently been diagnosed with melanoma and I probably know how you'll be feeling as I had this diagnosis myself just coming up to 5 years ago now.
I too wasn't expecting my lesion to be a melanoma so left the appointment feeling numb and shocked.
The operation you will be having in three weeks is called a wide local excision (WLE) and is basically a mopping up exercise to make sure that there are completely clear margins between where the melanoma was and the skin around it. If your melanoma is over a certain size you should also be offered an optional sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) which checks the nearest lymph node to see if the cancer has spread.
So questions you could ask are how deep and what stage is my melanoma and would you recommend that I have a SLNB?
As the online community is divided up into different support groups I'm going to recommend that you join us over in the melanoma group which is a great place to ask questions, share experiences and get support.
To join just click on the link I've created and then choose 'click to join' or 'join' (depending on the device you're using) on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with 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.
If you have any difficulty navigating the community just drop me a reply and I'll be pleased to help.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi
I'm glad my info has been useful.
Don't feel pressured by anyone into "getting over the shock" as we all take different amounts of time to come to terms with our diagnosis and there's no right or wrong length of time. However, I will say that one day you'll realise that melanoma is no longer the first thing on your mind when you wake in the morning and the last thing on your mind when you go to bed.
((hugs))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
