Hi,
I’ve just found this forum. I’ve recently been diagnosed with Stage 1A Melanoma and am waiting for a date for my wide excision.
The wait between appointments seems to be for ever. It’s already been 12 weeks since my mole was removed and I was told yesterday that there’s a six week wait for the next surgery.
I’m so worried that they left some behind and it’s spreading. The nurse I spoke to a few weeks ago assured me that the wide excision is just precautionary - but I’m still worried!
Hi RosyPosy and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I'm sorry to read that you've recently been diagnosed with melanoma and it's natural to worry that there may have been cancer cells left behind from the original excision.
I had roughly a 10 week wait between having my excision biopsy and having the follow-up wide local excision (WLE) and, in my case, a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) as well. Like you I was worried that this could mean there was a danger of it spreading so spoke to my SCNS. She had a look at my results and could reassure me that the original excision already had clear margins so there was very little chance that there were any melanoma cells left behind.
Waiting can be hard so my best advice would be to try and do things that you enjoy to take your mind off the 'what ifs'. Do you have any hobbies or pastimes that you could indulge in? Lots of people find mindfulness really helpful and, if this is something that interests you, clicking here will take you to the NHS page about it.
It would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
