I am currently waiting for a biopsy result which has made me so anxious I’m having to take diazepam (suffer from serious health anxiety) I go away on holiday as my sisters getting married in 2 weeks and have my biopsy result the Monday I get back which will have been 5 weeks since my biopsy. I was told I’m on the rapid cancer fasttrack route so I’d get results within 4 weeks of biopsy but assume they’ve done it later as I’m on holiday.
If it was melonoma and the dermatologist had those results at 2-3 weeks would they sit on that until my appointment or would they get me booked in for surgery? I’m so frightened :(
Hi Aw1333 and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I'm sorry to read how anxious waiting for the results of you biopsy has made you, but hopefully the thought of your sister's wedding and forthcoming holiday will help take your mind away from the 'what ifs'.
It's good that your results should be back 4 weeks after the biopsy was done. It largely depends on how busy the pathology laboratories are in your area of the country as to how quickly they come back. It's usually somewhere between 2-6 weeks with the average being about 4 weeks.
If it is found that you have melanoma then the next step is to have what's called a wide local excision (WLE), which basically takes away a further area of healthy skin all around the original melanoma to make sure that no stray cells have been left behind. You might not realise it but you've already had your 'surgery' as that's what happened when they removed the lesion to send off for biopsy.
Sometimes you'll be offered a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) if the melanoma was found to be a certain depth. This operation removes the sentinel lymph node nearest where the melanoma was to check that no cells have travelled to it.
I've had both a WLE and SLNB so, if you do have to have these procedures, I'm happy to share my experiences with you.
I hope you have a great time at your sister's wedding and a lovely holiday.
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that you come back in a few weeks time to say that the lesion wasn't cancerous but, in the meantime, if you have any further questions just reply to this post and I'll be happy to try and answer them.
((hugs))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
