I’m a young diagnosed

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Hi,

I had a tiny black freckle removed last summer from my leg. I wasn’t told at the time of removal that it was suspected melanoma. 3 months later I had no results so naively thought’ no news is good news’ 4 months later I had a phone call from a MacMillan nurse regarding an appointment. I said I wasn’t sure what she meant and she said ‘ I am so sorry, I thought you was given your results’. Fast forward to the appointment, she confirmed melanoma and done a full skin check, she then pointed out another very small lesion and had that removed. This week I had these results, another melanoma with query lymph node involvement, another 3 suspicious lesions marked and am going for surgery this week for the WLE, 3 other removals, lymph nodes etc. I don’t know what to expect and what’s coming. I’m 20, no family history although I have been referred to medical genetics which has a 13 months wait even as urgent

SilverAspen 11 hours ago

Hi DaisyLouise. I’m really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It’s a shock at whatever age you are, but at 20 you probably never expect anything like this to happen to you.

I don’t know if your Macmillan nurse has given you any information about the procedure, but I’m guessing that you will have a sentinel lymph node biopsy at the same time as your wider local excision. If you want to know what will happen to you, then the Macmillan website has a really useful description of the procedure: https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/diagnostic-tests/sentinel-lymph-node-biopsy-for-melanoma

Another source that I found very helpful was recommended to me by my Macmillan nurse, and that was Melanoma Focus. They have a really informative website and they also explain about the surgery.

I had this 14 months ago. My melanoma was on my upper arm, and so the SLNB was in my right arm armpit.

I hope this helps you to know what to expect. Wishing you all the best,

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