Hi,
My Dad has been diagnosed with T4b melanoma. He is having a second lot of surgery and sentinel lymph node removal after Christmas. I'm worried that it might have spread. I just wondered what people's experience was regarding the surgery and/or treatment?
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to read that your dad has been diagnosed with melanoma. Having been diagnosed myself 4 years ago I know what a worrying time this will be for both you and your dad.
It's natural to worry that it might have spread, I know I did, but the best thing to do is just to focus on what you do know and what is happening next.
I had the second lot of surgery you mention, called a wide local excision (WLE), and sentinel lymph node removal. For me the procedure was carried out over 2 days but it depends on the facilities of the hospital that is doing the operations.
On the first day I had a lymphoscintigraphy which identified the location of the sentinel lymph node in my armpit. The second day was the WLE and SLNB. Having never had any surgery before, let alone a general anaesthetic, I was nervous but everyone was very good, explaining what was happening and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined.
Two weeks later I went back to see the plastic surgeon for him to check on the progress of my wounds and to give me my results. Fortunately everything was healing well and no traces of melanoma had been found in the SLNB.
Three months later I had the first of my 3 monthly check-ups with my dermatologist. Your dad will have these for 3 years and then go on to 6 monthly for a further 2 years. Currently my check-ups are happening as a telephone appointment because of coronavirus.
If you'd like to know anything else just ask away and if you want to read my story just click on my username or profile picture.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
It must be hard for your dad attending appointments on his own . When I was going through this my husband was able to come with me so that there were 2 pairs of ears listening to the information.
When your dad goes to see his consultant he could, with the consultant's permission, record the conversation on his phone so that he can listen to it again later to check he hasn't misheard or forgotten something. It would also mean that he could play it to you as well if he wanted to.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi
How did your dad's wide local excision (WLE) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) go? Has he had the results back yet?
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
