New diagnosis

Hi again C_O_D_E_Silver 

I've been chatting to you a bit in the New to the Community group and know how convinced you are that you have melanoma which has spread to other organs.

I've thought long and hard as to how best to reply to you here and I hope that you'll take my comments and questions in the way they're meant, ie, trying to help you in the best way I can.

So, I'm going to start with outlining how a melanoma diagnosis comes about. When a GP is concerned that a mole or lesion shows possible characteristics of a melanoma, they will refer you to see a dermatologist as soon as possible. Ideally this should happen within 2 weeks but sometimes it can be a little longer. In your post in the New to the Community group you say that you are currently waiting to see a dermatologist about two areas of concern. Is one of these areas the area your GP has told you is cancer or have you already had that area looked at by a dermatologist?

Just popping back to your comment that your GP has looked at your skin and told you that you have cancer. No GP can tell you have cancer just by looking at your skin. Sometimes moles have the characteristics of melanoma but turn out not to be whilst others don't look like melanoma, as in my case, but turn out to be melanoma. The only way a lesion or mole can definitely be diagnosed as melanoma is by having it removed and biopsied. 

There have been plenty of people in this group who have been told that they have melanoma, and are convinced that the aches and pains they feel in their body means that it has already spread, and then once they get the results of their biopsy back come and tell us that thankfully it was just an atypical mole and not cancerous at all. Have you had your mole/lesion removed and biopsied yet? If not, I'll be keeping everything crossed that you will become one of these people.

If after having a mole/lesion biopsied it turns out to be melanoma you will be advised what stage it was and follow-up surgery (WLE) will be arranged. Mine was Stage 2a as it was 1.45mm deep and ulcerated. Along with the follow-up surgery you will be offered a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) to test if the cancer cells have reached your lymph nodes. If the test is positive then a scan would be arranged to check for spread. If yours has been biopsied, what stage and depth is it?

Have you had a WLE and SLNB that have tested positive for melanoma and that is why you talk about having an x-ray? It is not usual to use x-ray to check spread for melanoma but I realise you might have referred to the scan as an x-ray. Depending on the stage of the melanoma either a whole-body and brain CT scan, PET scan or MRI scan would be used.

If after the scans the melanoma was found to have spread then you would be offered either immunotherapy or targeted therapy drugs to treat it. There are many people in the group who have been on these drugs with great success. You ask about timescales and obviously everyone is different but you'll find many people in the group who were diagnosed years ago and are still living a normal life.

I'm sorry for all the questions and some assumptions I've made and I do hope you understand that I'm trying to find out how far you are in the diagnostic process along with outlining to you how the process goes.

I do understand how frightening a possible cancer diagnosis is as I was diagnosed with melanoma 7 years ago and breast cancer just last year. My best recommendation would be to just focus on the stage you're at now and not let your imagination run away with you. I know that might be easier to say than do, but a friend of mine once told me that worrying about something won't change the outcome but will ruin the present.

Please come back with any questions or answers to all my questions (sorry about that!) and I'll do my best to help and share my experiences with you.

Sending virtual (((hugs)))

Hello latchbrook,

Apologies for not making myself clear.

I'll await further tests and results. 

No need to apologise C_O_D_E_Silver as I know how stressful waiting for tests and results can be.

I'll be keeping everything crossed that you don't have melanoma.

When do you have your appointment to see the dermatologist?

Hi, appointment is 24/4.
It’s the earliest urgent slot they had available.

The X-Ray was to investigate my chest as I’ve been having breathing difficulties. My GP has been down the blocked arteries/heart path but all tests came back ok. ECG, bloods, etc. 

That's good to hear that your GP is on the ball with tests, etc to try and find out what is causing your breathing difficulties. Hopefully the x-ray will get to the cause of it.

Do come back and let me know how you get on when you see the dermatologist in a couple of weeks time.

x

Hi I was told by my GP back in January that I also had skin cancer, saw a dermatologist 2 weeks later who told me it was skin cancer and could be serious. As I had had this mole for 50+ years, I had no idea if or when it had become cancerous, I alternated between thinking the doctors had got it wrong and it would be nothing, to I would be told it was stage 4, so I fully understand what you are going through and like you I was convinced every ache and pain was due to the fact I had cancer. I was actually diagnosed with stage 1b. 

Hi Redlis, thanks for the reply.

Likewise, I've left it too long but mine didn't start with a mole and appears to be in at least two places probably three. In addition I'm wheezing and have a constant dull ache in the upper region/left side of my chest, neck, arm and shoulder. My kidneys and lower back have started to ache also.

I had two chest X-Rays last year, one for the same issue last May, and another after I fractured a rib in August. Both were clear but the problem persists. It was when I went to my GP at the end of March (For my chest again) that's when I showed him a dark line and patch under my toe nail he said I'm sending you for an urgent chest X-Ray because you have cancer. I then showed him the patch on my leg which he didn't really comment on but verbally noted the locations as he completed the dermatology consultation request. 

So that's where I'm at until I receive the X-Ray results and see a dermatologist on the 24th. It is difficult not to put 2+2 together though; the answer is always 4 (in my pragmatic world).  

I'll add, I'm not one to be running for medical attention at the slightest ailment, but detrimentally the misty far end of the hypochondriac scale.

Appreciate you sharing and your reassurance. 

Hi C_O_D_E_Silver 

I just wanted to wish you all the best with your dermatology appointment tomorrow.

x

Hi latchbrook,

Thank you so much.

Tomorrow I’m sure will be biopsies etc. Guessing I won’t hear anything back for at least a few days. 

Thank you again for thinking of me. 

Just to manage your expectations, usually the first visit to a dermatologist is for them to examine you and to decide what needs doing. If they do perform a biopsy tomorrow, the results can take anywhere between 2-6 weeks with most people getting them after about 4 weeks.

By the way, have you had the results of your chest x-ray yet?