First biopsy - terrified

First of all, I’m sorry to hear about your situation.  The waiting is so difficult!  It’s human nature to fear the worst.  It’s impossible to know what your diagnosis is without your results, but the key words I picked up on are pre-cancerous, early and the fact that you had only 3 stitches, which means the excision wasn’t huge.  These are the thoughts I would hang on to.  It does sound as though you have caught this early on, which is really good.

If there is any indication that it is either precancerous or early stage melanoma, then they will want to do a wider local excision (WLE), which involves taking a little bit more tissue away from the site.  This is usually done by a plastic surgeon, and it’s a belt and braces approach to make sure they’ve removed all tissue that might contain cancer cells.  .  If this is all it’s needed to be done, then it would be a day case.  Hopefully that’s all you will need.

Wishing you all the best,

Caroline

Hi GardenRose385bd1 and a very warm welcome to the group which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.

I had a lesion removed from my arm 9 years ago now so I totally understand your worry and anxiety waiting for the results. I tried to fill my time doing things I enjoyed as I found that kept my mind from wandering too much onto the 'what ifs'. Lots of people have mentioned that they find mindfulness useful and, if this is something that interests you, this NHS page will give you more information.

I must admit I haven't heard of a consultant receiving preliminary results before getting the full results so can't comment on that. Normally what happens is that the results come back and are then discussed at a multidisciplinary meeting (MDT) to decide if any further treatment is needed.

If no melanoma cells are found in the biopsy then that's the end of your treatment. If it does turn out to be melanoma then what further treatment is needed depends on it's depth. For all melanoma, and usually pre-melanoma, a wide local excision (WLE) is performed. This will be what your consultant mentioned you might have. It's basically a further removal of skin all around the original excision site to make sure no stray cells have been left behind.

I know it's easy for me to say but someone once pointed out to me that no amount of worry will change the outcome but it will ruin the present, and I try to follow that as best as I can.

Sending ((hugs)) 

Anne

Dear Caroline, Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and explain things to me, I really do appreciate it. 

Dear Anne, thank you also for taking the time to reply to me, it is very kind of you. I've just read your bio and I'm very sorry to hear of the time you have had. Your strength comes across in your kind reply to me. I shall try and summon the same. As at the moment I'm not sure I'll ever stop crying.

First off, feeling terrified is only natural. I was so stressed when I got referred by my GP that I got sciatica! So don’t beat yourself up for worrying. It sounds like you did something about the mole early on so chances are if it does turn out to be cancerous (and it may well not be) it has been caught in good time. 

I don’t find mindfulness very helpful in general - I find it very hard to relax and switch my brain off - but a friend told me about the 54321 technique, which I used early on when I started to have panic attacks (I’d never had them before). Can’t seem to post the link but you’ll find it if you google ‘5-4-3-2-1 grounding’.

All the best and I hope you don’t have to wait too long for your results.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, appreciated. May I ask how you cope now, knowing you do/did have it? If that is too personal, I apologise.  

I certainly don't consider myself to be 'strong'. However, I think that I'm fortunate in having a 'just get on with it' personality 

When I was first diagnosed, and you haven't got to that stage yet, I thought there'd never be a day when it wouldn't be the first thing I thought about when I woke up and the last thing I thought about before I fell asleep but it gradually happened. You'll get there too.

Don't forget, just because a consultant thinks it might be melanoma doesn't mean it will be. I've had two moles removed, one was cancerous and the other wasn't and the one that wasn't cancerous was the most suspicious looking one! 

I have a very low pain threshold but the pain I had from surgery and 12 months of immunotherapy was really not too bad. The psychological effect has been harder and I’m not sure I’ve come to terms with everything even 18 months on. Planning ahead is difficult (will I be well in 6 months’ time?) so it does make you focus more on enjoying the present as much as possible.