Hi my son had a suspicious mole excised 3 weeks ago (suspected melanoma). He received a call today to book a follow up appointment for Monday. He is convinced this means bad news and if the biopsy was normal they would have told him over the phone or sent a letter. Is he correct?
Hi Blondie13 and a very warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but sorry to hear about your son’s ongoing diagnosis.
A diagnosis journey in the family can be such a challenging and stressful time but getting support from others who are dealing with the ‘exact same' cancer type or support challenges will help you a lot…….
I have a completely different type of cancer and treatment journey and over my 25 years journey there has been no specific way results were given and I have had good and not so good news over the phone but also at appointments.
This New to Community area is like our reception desk where we look to direct you to the best part of the Community for you to get support.
The Community is actually divided into dedicated Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so can I recommend you look to join and post in our……
……. support group.
This group is a safe place to talk to others who may have a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support from family members who are navigating the same support journey.
As for the practical and emotional challenges of supporting your son and indeed yourself you may benefit from joining and posting in our……
Carers only (if you are their caregiver)
……. support groups where you will connect with a wide range of members navigating the exact same support challenges.
To connect with a group click on the “Bold Italic Links” I have created above …… then once the group page opens click in the [Black - Click to Join - Banner] that appears at the bottom of the page and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.
When you are ready……. you can introduce yourself by putting up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.
It is an emotional time supporting family so you might find this Macmillan information your feelings when someone has cancer helpful as well as this link getting help with your emotions.
The Macmillan Support Line is open between 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00…… this service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support, benefits/financial guidance or just a listening ear.
Talking to people ‘face to face’ can be very helpful so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing.
Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community.
Hi again Blondie13 and in the face of it this does sound like good news….. and it’s so exciting about the baby.
I have no knowledge of this type of cancer and on the whole people tend to move on from this area of the community into our dedicated cancer support group so you may want to go over to our……
……. support group and put up your question in the group as there are many people in that group with first hand experience .
Hi again Blondie13
First copy the text you want to move over to the group
Double click any word in the text you want to copy, you will see the word highlighted in a gray box with two dots….. use the dots to stretch the box to cover all the text you want…… then hit copy.
To connect with the Melanoma Support group click on the link below.
Once the group page opens click in the [Black - Click to Join - Banner] that appears at the bottom of the page and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.
You can then put up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.
Put up a post title in the top box…… then put your finger on the bottom text box and an option to paste your saved text will appear……., once you are happy you have said what you want press post.
If you are having problems doing this do tell me and I can ask the Macmillan Staff to help you out.
