Hi! I’m new here and very anxious, I am stage 3 melanoma

Hello,

I’ve read a few posts about results arriving but no doctor to consult and give people the answers they are desperately waiting on. Your cancer nurse seems accommodating, glad she was able to give you them. I hope you got some answers when you chatted.

My local MacMillan centre is great and if they don’t know something, they find out and always get back to me.

You might have a Maggies centre close by, they are so helpful and reassuring. Things will seem up in the air (that’s me putting it mildly), but honestly, things will settle when they let you know what’s happening next.

Take care xx

Hi Squinky.  Our journey is SO alike, I had to reread your post a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t mine. I had a mole removed from my back and was never told anything. “Got it all with clear margins”.  Seven years later there’s a baseball-sized mass in axillary node (armpit). I’ll try to make this short but it’s just something for you to possibly learn from because so far, over 13 months later it’s still terrorizing me. Three months of immunotherapy with Keytruda, no side effects and no help. Surgery with complete removal in March 2024. Second surgery in July because I developed a “foreign body” with huge infected seroma. After THAT was finally over, I was flying high, thinking it was gone only to find it had returned as a very small BB -sized tumor in my neck. PET scan confirmed metastatic melanoma. That was in August, it’s now almost February 2025 and I’ve had 3 more months of immunotherapy with same results as before. Preparing for yet another surgery this time with an ENT surgeon for a TIL surgery. There are at least 3 more tumors in that same area and the one that was BB-sized 5 months ago is now the size of a marble. I haven’t seen TIL procedure/therapy” mentioned in this community. It’s very new and it scares me to death so I will let you learn about it on your own and hopefully you will NEVER have to get this far, or as deeply into this as I’m am. I’m not sure I should even submit this sad story of mine - perhaps it will be removed by the good people of Macmillan before it’s posted.  I’m actually hoping to help myself, once these tumors are removed, to try some different alternatives to kill this monster myself. If not, TIL is new and has very good results but it involves A LOT of “stuff” that I’d really rather not ever have to go through.  As I said, I’m very sorry I don’t have a better story to tell you. God willing, I will have an update before long with a much more positive outcome.  
this wasn’t very short was it?  lol , apologies- I did try!

may we all be blessed with healing and comfort 

Hi Hevallan. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post  I spoke with my cancer nurse Tuesday and she explained everything.So the plan is to have surgery to remove my lymph nodes in my armpit, where the cancer has contained, which should be a curative a wider excision on my back then a referral to the oncologist to discuss treatment for prevention, whatever that maybe. It’s a scary journey and I am trying to face it positively and fight the best I  can I will search for your recommendation.       Take care too xx

Hi Hanners! Wow! You’re certainly on a rollercoaster of a cancer journey! They certainly are scary times. I’m wishing you positive results in the next chapter of your journey. I spoke with my nurse, the cancer has contained in my lymph nodes, in my armpit, so the plan is to have them removed, along with a wider excision on my back, then a referral to an oncologist to discuss cancer treatment for a year for prevention.Blessing you with healing too xx

An update on my cancer journey and a follow on from my first post. I spoke with my nurse, the cancer has managed to stay contained in my lymph nodes, so the plan is to have surgery within the next 2 weeks, to remove my lymph nodes,which should be a curative  along with a wider excision on my back.then be referred to an oncologist to discuss cancer treatment for prevention so I will try to stay positive and do my best to fight the nuisance disease!  Healing blessings to you all xx

My partner was stage 1A in 2022 with 2 small surgeries under local. 
he was diagnosed as stage 3 in 2024 after he spotted an enlarged armpit lymph node only 2 weeks after his last check up. 
Spotted in july, got told it was melanoma in August, referred to a dermatologist in October and had a full lymph node dissection under general in December.

he only saw the dermatologist once and he won’t see him again. The surgeon said in his post op check up that he would be referred now to an oncologist and that’s who he would see going forward.

many different specialties in this field so don’t be nervous about who you see, only that they provide you understandable answers to your questions and are reassuring that they will do their best for you.

Thank you Bbeca 2020 ,for taking the time to reply to my post. And your encouraging words. It must of been an anxious time for you also to experience your partner on their cancer journey. How have coped? I wish your partner healing blessings x

My husband is on a similar journey. Don't be afraid to push for updates and answers. The info is usually there but communication is poor in our experience. The Macmillan helpline is invaluable if you're not sure. Take care

Hello Squinky so sorry to hear your situation. My situation and dates are very similar to yours. I’ve known about my melanoma for over 2 year and have been misdiagnosed since 2022. Mine has also spread to my right lymph node and I’ve had a scan which shows undetermined patch on my brain. It looks like I’m going to get a further prognosis. I’ve been waiting since October for treatment. That’s 6 months this thing has had time to grow on top of the 3 years miss diagnosis. I’m feeling really let down by the NHS

Hi Nanners!  I was thinking about your cancer journey that you told me about, and was wondering how you were doing? I had my lymph node surgery, they removed 20 lymph nodes and only 2 contained cancer, I am awaiting an MRI scan and CT scan result, depending on the results, I had my appointment with the oncologist, who discussed immunotherapy, the same one that you had. Positive healing to you. Squinky aka Tracy xx