Long wait time for treatment

Hi Jed 

I can understand your anxiety around waiting to have your WLE and SLNB but, as you're probably aware, current NHS guidelines recommend not having surgery until you're 7 weeks clear of having Covid, which I can see you caught at the end of October, and I'm assuming that this is why your operations have been postponed until the New Year.

Have you had the results from the CT scan you had in November yet and do you have a date for the biopsy of the regrowth? 

You ask if the wait time from the removal of your melanoma to the WLE and SLNB that you have is normal. I had my melanoma removed in October 2016 and didn't have the WLE and SLNB until February 2017, so a wait of 4 months. This is just slightly shorter than your original wait would have been if you hadn't caught Covid. Lots of people have it more quickly than us but equally some people have to wait longer. 

You don't have too much longer to wait now and hopefully you can distract yourself with Christmas and the New Year.

x

Totally understand your need to vent! I saw my GP in July, was immediately given an ‘urgent’ referral to dermatology. They looked at it ( large bcc on scalp) sent me off with shampoo & ointment but I knew something was amiss so I contacted PALS and told them so. Exactly one week later, I saw the consultant who looked and immediately diagnosed a BCC. Had my biopsy that same day. They referred me onto another hospital. My appointment was cancelled due to staff shortages & when I did get there, the surgeon looked at my BCC saying ‘It’s a good size’ which I found infuriating! He also diagnosed another BCC on the side of my nose so … Now I have two surgeries to look forward to, or at least think about; both potentially disfiguring as the one in my scalp is at the front & the other is obviously right in the middle of my face. I recorded the conversation as it was important for me to know that I’d asked all the right questions.  The guy was so disinterested it was alarming, truly. He said at one point ‘You can leave them and not do anything‘. At this point I tried to get some ‘humanness’ from him & asked what he’d advise his wife were she in the same position. He didn’t answer, just casually pointed to my clavicle ( where necklaces have sat for five decades) and said they’d graft skin for my scalp from here. Totally disgusted by the encounter. The nurse was helpful though, informing me that the average wait time was at least 9 months. I’ve already had 7 months of wait-time to get to this stage but both I and my husband who was with me, felt that they really do not take feelings into account when dealing with potentially disfiguring cancer on the skin. 
had I gone private, maybe I’d get the ‘bedside’ manner; however, I can’t afford to. They don’t do moh’s either. 
I’m due back in one month to meet the Head Consultant which should be interesting as he also has a private practice. 
with NHS waiting lists as they are, I understand that skin cancer isn’t prioritised but believe it ought to be. 
I guess it was a meeting of opposites really. I’m a psychotherapist who works with emotion and feelings and I have empathy. I’ve had many clients who are doctors, including one surgeon and I respect their profession but know it needs to be tempered with kindness and respect for patients as human beings. This has been totally missing throughout my cancer journey thus far, with the exception of one young nurse who was very kind. 
so, now I’ve vented. Doesn’t make me feel much better but I just hope others are getting more from their encounters with the medical teams on the NHS.

good luck in your journey x