Results not what I wanted to hear

Hi 46 male

I'm not surprised that you're feeling a bit overwhelmed. I remember only too well how shocked I felt when I was told 3 years ago that I had melanoma. Mine was 1.45mm and ulcerated so I had a WLE and SLNB.

What sort of information are you after?

x

Did you stay at stage 2, what should I expect.

46 male

Yes I remained at stage 2 as no melanoma cells were found in my WLE or SLNB. You would remain the same if your WLE and SLNB were negative too.

That’s good to hear, did you ever worry that it had spread.

46 male

I was worried about the diagnosis but once I'd had time to process the information I didn't really worry that it might have spread.

I took the opportunity of going and having a chat with my skin cancer nurse specialist (SCNS) and she helped put everything in perspective for me. I think it helped that I'm a naturally optimistic person so I didn't allow myself to go down the track of worrying about what if. I was also in the process of moving house so that helped to take my mind off things.

It's natural to worry that it might have spread though and lots of people come to this group worried about spread. My best advice would be to occupy yourself in whatever way you can, ie work, hobbies, going out with friends, etc so that your mind is too occupied to start wandering down the what if path.

When I was diagnosed I didn't know this community existed so instead of discussing any worries I had here my poor husband had to listen to me!

Do you have a date for your WLE and SLNB?

Hi 

I also had stage 2 melanoma 2.1mm depth not ulcerated. I had my WLE and SLNB 6-7 weeks ago and the results came back clear.

I really do understand how you feel as it’s difficult not to worry about the thought of spread. I too was told 15% chance of spread so after many weeks of convincing myself it had spread before my surgery I flipped it round and thought that’s an 85% chance it hasn’t which is pretty good odds!

Uncertainty is hard and I would recommend trying to distract yourself as much as possible until your surgery but also know it’s ok not to be ok at times. 

fingers crossed for you.

Debs

Waiting for referral as I transferring back to nhs, consultant dermatologist said he would mark it as a priority. Main concern is the ulceration

My consultant didn't tell me what stage I was, only the depth, and I didn't know it was ulcerated either. It was only after I knew I was clear that I realised it had been ulcerated so I didn't have that to worry about.

You are right that an ulcerated melanoma is worse than an non-ulcerated melanoma but I'm sure there will be plenty of other people, like me, whose melanoma was ulcerated and are still clear years later. In my case I'm coming up to the end of my first 3 years of follow-up and, touch wood, everything is still okay.

My next check-up is next week and I won't lie I do get a little apprehensive before hand even if I don't have anything to report.