Hi - I’m 18 years old and recently been diagnosed with stage 3B superficial spreading melanoma.
It had a 1.9mm breslow depth, no ulceration, was on my neck, microsatellite present, mitotic count 9/mm^2.
I’m having a WLE and SLNB a week today and I’m so terrified. I’ve never had general anaesthetic before (is my worst nightmare) and don’t fully know what to expect. Would really appreciate if anyone could share their experience - particularly if you’ve had a SNLB from your neck?
I also have to do a year of adjuvant targeted drug therapy (dab/tram).
Just feeling so down at the moment. I don’t know anyone else who has gone through this and don’t really have many people to talk to (and I feel terrible leaning on the few close friends ai have)
Hi MiaX 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 know how scary it is to be told you have melanoma and, like you, I'd never had a general anaesthetic before and was nervous about it. However, all the theatre staff were very reassuring and put me at my ease. As it was administered I remember thinking 'this isn't working' and then the next minute I was waking up in the recovery ward!
The online community is divided into different support forums so I'm going to recommend that you join us over in the melanoma forum which is a great place to ask questions and share experiences with others who have a similar diagnosis to 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'.
It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment to date 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"
That's very kind of you but I don't consider myself in that light....I was diagnosed with cancer and had no choice but to deal with it as best as I could.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
