Over recent years I have had numerous BCC's which have been treated in a variety of ways. I had my first melanoma in 2010 - excised successfully, with no further treatment or complications and no more melanomas - until 15th June, 2021. Which is when I saw a plastic surgeon in preparation for some more surgery of BCC's on my face. Whilst examining me, he noticed a spot which was suspicious - a possible Melanoma on my back - which was removed on 25th June and sent for a biopsy. At the same time the other Bcc's (in 4 different places) were excised. Hats off to the NHS for getting this done so quickly. Now the long wait to discover if the suspicions are born out by the testing. I'm down for a possible follow-up consultation in 4 weeks' time. Does it take that long to confirm a diagnosis? I think my nymph nodes are slightly swollen - but I could be wrong - and I've lost about 2Kgs in weight since. Any advice?
Hi Brian and a very warm welcome to the melanoma group
In my experience my biopsy results have always taken between 4-6 weeks to come back so having an appointment for 4 weeks time sounds about right.
Lymph nodes can swell for a number of reason including when they're fighting off infection but if you're worried you could always give your SCNS a call to talk it through with her. If you haven't been assigned one yet you could call the consultant's secretary and ask to be put through to whoever is the SCNS.
Let us know how you get on
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hi Brian
That's great news that the lesion on your back didn't turn out to be melanoma but I'm sorry to read that what was thought to be a BCC on your face has turned out to be Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). I don't have any personal experience with this type of cancer but I've found this information for you from Cancer Research UK.
I've also had a look in the skin cancer group and found a few people there who were diagnosed with MCC, so that would probably be a good group to join and post in. I also keep an eye on that group so will keep an eye out for you and tag people who might be able to help you if they don't see your post. Clicking on the link I've created will take you straight there where you can join and post in the same way as you did here.
Do you know what treatment you'll be having and when it will start?
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
