Just diagnosed

Hi Hut and a very warm welcome to the online community

I'm sorry to read that you've just been diagnosed with melanoma and I totally understand what a scary time this will be for you.

I was diagnosed with melanoma nearly five years ago now and I'm happy to tell you about my experiences if you'd like. My melanoma was on my arm. Where was yours?

x

1. Hi, thanks for reply. I'm so overwhelmed. It's on my back. I just found it on Easter Sunday and waited 2 weeks for excision. Then 3 weeks for diagnosis. I'm now waiting for WLE and SNLB. The size and fact it is ulcerated is confusing me. I would like to know your experience, thanks. 

Hi Hut,

It is such a shock to be given the news and the sitting with it is hideous and I'm sorry you are going through this.

I developed a mole on my back 2 years ago and it was a melanoma. I had the WLE and SNLB,  which went well. 

All the information you have to take in, in the first few weeks is overwhelming so I wont add to that but if you have any questions I'm more than happy to discuss my experience.

Take care,

Sheila.

Morning Hut

That's really good that you had your biopsy and results back so quickly. Do you have a date for your WLE and SLNB yet? I had to wait a couple of months for mine but most people get these operations a lot quicker than that.

For me the WLE and SLNB happened over two days but lots of people have everything on one day. On the first day I had a lymphoscintigraphy which identified the location of the sentinel lymph node in my armpit. Basically they inject some radioactive dye as close as possible to the area where the melanoma was removed and then you lie on a couch with a machine placed over you so that they can see which lymph node the dye goes to. I think this took about an hour in total. The injection stung slightly but other than that it wasn't an unpleasant experience.

The following day I had my WLE and SLNB under general anaesthetic. I was lucky that my appointment was at 8am so by the middle of the afternoon I was ready to go home. When you go for your pre-op they should give you a leaflet, similar to this one, about how to look after yourself and what you can and can't do after surgery.

I was advised to take paracetamol and ibuprofen regularly for a few days but found that after a couple of days both the WLE and SLN wounds were comfortable enough for me not to need them. By the time I went for my check-up and to get my results two weeks later both wound sites had completely healed, although it obviously took quite a while longer for everything to feel 'normal' again.

The size of your melanoma is known as the Breslow thickness and is used to describe how deep the melanoma is. This depth also helps with the Staging. If you look at the link you will see that as your melanoma, like mine, was at least 1.1mm thick you are currently Stage 2. This stage is further divided into a, b and c and your consultant can give you further information on what exact stage you are if you want to know.

My melanoma was also ulcerated and I understand that to mean that the skin had broken down over it and was no longer intact. I remember that mine had started to weep and crust over before I had the biopsy excision.

Right, well I think I've given you enough to be going on with but please do ask me anything that you want to know or that I've not made clear.

x

Thanks Sheila

Thanks. It's a lot to take in, but I'm getting there.