Hi all, I have been meaning to post for a while now but have waited until today after having an excisional biopsy for a referral that was made last September.
I have had a mole for around or over ten years now that changed it's 'architecture drastically around about a year ago, my doctor felt it was suspicious last summer when I was being checked for a breast lump (thankfully), due to covid I have been waiting for the surgery a very long time as I live in the north of Ireland. Unfortunately I feel I have been given very little information on what to be expecting it has been very difficult to get in contact with GP's, apart from to obtain medication for severe anxiety. I am a lone mother and have been finding ithard to function which has resulted in halving to halve my working hours with Christmas around the corner.
The mole itself was constantly changing since mid summer time, in colour, size and was fluctuating between periods of pain itching and bleeding. I have done a lot of research myself and am concerned that I am having night sweats and feeling feverish at times as this would possibly be an indication of spreading.
The biopsy went well today and I am glad the mole is gone! There will be another wait of 4-6 weeks and I suppose I would really like to remain stable for this period as I have been out of my mind with concern. Any advice or anything relatable would be much appreciated.
Kind Regards, Shannon.
Hi Shannon and a second welcome to the online community
As IvysMum has said, waiting for results is really horrible. I found that immersing myself in things I enjoyed doing helped me stop thinking about the 'what ifs'. Lots of people find mindfulness helpful and if this is something that interests you clicking on this link will take you to the NHS mental health apps page with links to apps some of which are free.
Something else that I would recommend is to try and just take one step at a time. At the moment you don't know if this mole is a melanoma so try not to let your mind run away with the idea that you have melanoma that has already spread.
Although I've had one mole that was a melanoma a more recent mole that was removed this summer wasn't. Take a look at this recent thread started by Ashsi who was convinced that his mole was a melanoma that had spread. He recently reported back to us that it wasn't melanoma so I hope this helps you to see that not every mole removed will be melanoma.
Take care
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hello,
thank you for sharing your worries. I hope that be sharing my story it may help you. I hope my story demonstrates that the wait might not be as long as you expect and that also there is no way of knowing what the result will be so it is best to try and stay distracted.
i have had 2 moles removed; 1 in 2018 from my back which I had no awareness of but GP saw it when I went to discuss another mole (which was fine) and he checked my whole body. That mole had changed shape and colour but it was removed in hospital under local anaesthetic and after 3 weeks I got a letter to say it was all clear.
more recently, I knocked a mole on my leg and as it healed it became itchy and grew. I decided to get it checked and went from GP to dermatology dept who removed it there and then. Within 2 weeks I had a letter and arranged a phone call appointment where I was given the news that the mole had been cancerous and due to its’ thickness, stage 2. This was only a few months ago.
Since then I have met the plastic surgeon and had the surgery which was a wide local excision and sentinel lymph node biopsy on 19-11 so I now have 2-3 weeks wait for results of that. Surgeon told me in my case it’s 80% likely that the lymph nodes will be all clear so I am every hopeful 
holly x
Hi Shannon
How are you doing? Have you had the results back from your biopsy?
Keeping everything crossed for you.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
