Hi all, I'm new to this community but have been reading you all for a while. I haven't had a diagnosis but I'm a little worried and hope that writing about it might bring some peace. I've had a mole in the sole of my foot for a while (few years though I can't tell for sure when it first appeared). I completely ignored it thinking it was just a mole. It is fairly big, flat with asymmetric edges. I have dark skin, never got exposed in the sun and so have always believed I was immune to skin cancer. I wish someone had told me that this was a misconception and that there is another type of melanoma not related to sun exposure and that it typically affect dark skinned people. Anyway, a cousin of mine had a mole appear on her leg last month and she quickly had it checked but was told it was fine. That prompted me to have mine checked and obviously my GP didn't like the look of it and referred me to a dermatologist. I saw her yesterday and as soon as she saw it she said she wanted it removed. I tried gauging her reaction but she remained very neutral and said she absolutely couldn't give me an opinion because it could be cancer but it could also be normal. Only after they removed it and looked at it can they tell me more. She was lovely but was neither alarming nor reassuring (don't know how they do it really). I know that the chances of surgery and treatment are quite good when detected early but I'm quite worried about mine going undiagnosed for years. I asked her if it was cancer what are the chances of it having spread and again she said she couldn't say anything but that the likelihood of it being advanced were slim because I haven't had other symptoms such as lumps in other parts of my body. She did say the surgery would be painful and healing would be slow due to the skin in that area being very delicate and I made the mistake of looking at photos online and now that's all I can think about. I'm not even sure what I'm asking about here, I know how hard it is to provide any sort of information in this case but if anyone had or is going through a similar experience I would love to hear from them. Thank you so much for reading.
That's a shame that the receptionist wouldn't put you through to the consultant's secretary . Maybe it's because you don't have a melanoma diagnosis yet as I have spoken to my consultant's secretary on a number of occasions.
I guess your only option then is to go back to your GP 
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi
No need to apologise. We all have busy lives and it sounds like you have a lot on your plate at the moment besides your own health issues.
I was also diagnosed with Stage 2a melanoma so can appreciate the wobbles you may be having. I found that chatting to my skin cancer nurse specialist (SCNS) about all the questions I hadn't thought of when I was told my diagnosis really helped. However, I wasn't aware of this community when I was diagnosed and, with hindsight, it would have been a great place for me to ask questions of others in the same boat as me!
Having had both the WLE and SLNB please don't be afraid to ask me anything you might want to know about these procedures. Hopefully you won't have too long to wait until you get your operation date.
I'd be interested to know more about the mole mapping that you're having as this wasn't something I was offered.
I'm off for the next of my 3 monthly check-ups tomorrow so keeping everything crossed that all is still okay.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it.
and good luck for tomorrow,
yes the mole mapping is clinical photographs of all of my body which can then be looked at in more detail as I have a lot of moles ,(if I was a dog I’d be a Dalmatian.
) It is then repeated to monitor changes. Think in 3 months time .
ive just emailed my nurse this evening 
yes do have a questions is it painful afterwards where the lymph node is taken from ?
should I book a few days off work afterwards just in case?
im a health professional myself and dealing with patients on a one to one basis I need to be relatively fit .
Good luck again 
and a big hug
That's interesting about the mole mapping. I too have a lot of moles and my dermatologist told me to take photos of the different sections of my body and use them to compare me now with then so that I can see if anything's changed. I guess mine was the amateur version and yours is the professional version, lol.
Both the area of the SLNB and WLE were uncomfortable for a day or two but I followed the advice of taking painkillers whether I thought I needed them or not for the first couple of days. This seemed to keep on top of the pain and by day three I stopped taking them and the wound sites were sore rather than painful.
I think you'll probably need to book more than a few days of work. I was given this leaflet which, if you look on page 10, you'll see advises taking it easy for the first week and then easing yourself back into your normal routine. My SLNB was from my armpit but I think yours might be from your groin and I think that takes longer to recover from. If you use the search facility in this group you should be able to find some posts from people who have had a SLNB from their groin quite recently.
Thanks for the best wishes and the hug, they're much appreciated.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Well I'm pleased to report that everything is still okay!!! Lymph nodes all behaving themselves and none of my existing moles have changed or new ones appeared.
The clinic was running 90 minutes late, as they were a registrar down and had had a few people present with things that needed a lot of attention, but I can put up with that to know that everything's okay 
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
