Hello folks,
This is my first post but I’m already finding the level of support this community offers to be very kind, practical and generous. Thank you.
Following an excision biopsy on a mole (which appeared 3 years ago and had started growing rapidly) I received a malignant melanoma diagnosis two weeks ago. It’s on my upper arm/shoulder. In spite of the shock at hearing the words, I feel fortunate that it was caught early. I have been dealt with quickly on the 2 week wait pathway and received the news from a cancer nurse specialist.
She explained to me that it’s thin, 0.5mm and stage 1a and no ulceration and that I would have a wide local excision with a 1cm margin around the biopsy scar, which she expects to be curative.
I’ve since seen my pathology report, which my GP had uploaded onto my medical record and which is visible on my Patient Access app.
The report states that ‘ulceration is present’ and stages the melanoma at 1b.
I emailed the CNS about it, who said ‘there’s a difference between clinical and pathological diagnosis so it’s 1a, don’t worry about it.’
I find I am worrying about it. This is because for 1b I believe that lymph nodes are also checked. I am worried about something being missed now and causing a problem later.
I feel like I’m making a fuss, when really the news is more or less good, for a melanoma diagnosis, and when I know many on this forum are dealing with extremely different and difficult scenarios. But I have close family experiences of things being missed at a stage when something could have been done about it. I want to believe it’s all going to be fine but I’m finding it hard to trust the process, especially when finding this discrepancy in my report and what I’ve been told.
Anyone else have any similar experiences? How critical is it to have a SLNB? Am I making a fuss about nothing?
Thanks you, and much support and strength out to you all.
xx
Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to read that you've recently been diagnosed with melanoma but, as you say, it is very thin and has been caught early.
Staging melanoma is complicated. If you click on this link you'll see how your T1b becomes Stage1A.
First scroll to page 10 where you'll see a table. Under the thickness column look down for your size, which you say is 0.5mm, and then look in the ulceration status, which you said is 'ulcerated'. You should then see that <0.8mm and ulcerated is T1b, which is what you said it says on the report you've seen from your GP.
The T1b is then converted into the Stage. If you scroll down to the next page, look in the column headed 'Where T is...' and find T1b. Look across from there to the heading 'Pathological stage group is.....' and that shows Stage 1A.
I hope this helps and doesn't confuse you further.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi and I'm glad the link was helpful.
It's natural to be worried and want to make sure that everything possible is done to make sure all the melanoma has been removed.
I've just realised that I didn't reply to your question of how critical having a SLNB is. A SLNB is a diagnostic tool rather than a treatment and tells your consultant whether any melanoma cells have travelled to your sentinel lymph node. However, there are risks involved with having a SLNB, ie. being under a general anaesthetic, the risk of lymphoedema, etc so it is only usually offered to people whose melanoma is at least 0.8mm thick.
You should still have regular skin and lymph node checks by either your consultant or SCNS, just the same as those of us who have had a SLNB, so if there's any recurrence or any other mole changes they will be spotted early.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Something I was advised to do by my consultant was to take photos of all of my body in sections, ie right upper arm, left upper arm, lower back, upper back, etc. I then use those photos when I do my monthly self-check to compare with how I am now so that I can easily spot any changes.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Snap! I too was in the middle of a house move when I was diagnosed but I found that helped me take my mind off things.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
For me, one day I realised that the first thing that I'd thought about that morning wasn't melanoma and that the last thing I'd thought about before I fell asleep wasn't melanoma either. We all get there at different speeds but hopefully you will do too.
(((hugs)))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
