Hello! New here and some advice needed...

Hello

So sorry to hear of your situation. The worry and waiting is so stressful.

You are looking very far ahead when you don’t even know if the mole is a melanoma yet. Don’t know why I’m saying that when it’s exactly what I have done at every stage since I got referred for a suspicious mark on my foot in Feb ‘24 so I know exactly where you are coming from!

I’m assuming they will just remove the mole first, or do a biopsy, which should be a relatively minor procedure and you should be able to walk fine after a few days if so. I’m assuming that only if it turns out to be a melanoma will they do a wide local excision (WLE) and possibly a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB).

Mine is similar to yours in that I had a mark on the heel of my foot. I first had a biopsy which took only a few days to heal and I could walk fine soon after. But it turned out to be a melanoma so I subsequently had the WLE and SLNB. This took 3 months to heal completely which was very restrictive - needed to keep my foot elevated and I didn’t walk on it (or drive) until it was completely healed. I had twice weekly dressing changes at my GP practice for about 6 weeks then weekly ones with my partners doing the changes in between. 

Hopefully yours will turn out not to be a melanoma and you can put this all behind you. But if you have any other questions that I might be able to answer from my own experience, just let me know. I can totally get your anxiety about how to manage this with a new job but maybe it’s best not to make any decisions when you don’t even know whether this is a melanoma yet? 

All the best

Hi Cerys, thanks for your reply! Yes I know it seems a bit previous to be thinking this far ahead, but they seem pretty certain that it's a melanoma - two consultants and GP have all indicated as much. I've been told I'll probably need a WLE and it's to be done by the plastic surgeons. I've had an email confirming all that. I feel like because the job will involve me being on my feet a lot, I will need to make sure I have sufficient recovery time.

The other reason for thinking ahead I guess is that I need to give 3 months notice at my current position - so quite significant forward planning is needed! I have decided now thought that I'm going to ask the school if they can delay my start date till after the Autumn half term, to be on the safe side. That will give me a bit more leeway. Just hoping that they are ok with that! 

As a quick update on my situation: I had the surgery yesterday to remove the lesion. They had originally just intended to do a biopsy, however when the surgeon saw it (it is a horrid blob!) he decided to just remove the whole thing and do the skin graft there and then, so that's a relief. It's all happened very quickly, which is great. I was expecting things to take a long time, from my previous experience with breast cancer treatment as I had so many delays before my treatment started and I get very bad anxiety.

The surgeon was amazing and the procedure straightforward. I had a skin graft with skin taken from the thigh. I was allowed to have my phone during the procedure to distract myself (although I had to promise not to take any pictures!). I just watched funny videos of cats mainly :-D The actual procedure took about an hour (although I was in the hospital for nearly six hours all in all).

I now have to keep the foot elevated as much as possible and try not to walk on it too much. I have a dressing check in a week and probably then at least another week of relative immobility. They've said that because of where it is, the skin graft may not take, but that isn't a problem it will just potentially take longer to heal and not be as tidy.

Now just waiting for the biopsy results, I think they are supposed to take a couple of weeks.

Hi - glad it went well for your surgery I have the same issue and was wondering did they take 1cm around the whole site? And debth of 1cm too? You are fortunate not to have had your toe amputated so sounds like the best result for you - good luck with your healing process 

Hi Dexter, sorry for the delay in answering. I am not sure if they took 1cm or not to be honest - I find that hard to imagine as it was in an area where that would have been quite tricky, in the webbing between the little toe and the next. I was worried about amputation and asked about it but it never seemed like an option they were considering, even from the off. 

The wound has healed really well now, very happy with it - it looked quite icky for a couple of weeks and I even sent the hospital some photos of it to check, which they said looked normal. It's looking great now, five weeks on.

I have my biopsy results appointment next week, so it's taken just over six weeks from the surgery to get them. I don't know why it's taken so long, as I know they had the results back from the lab the week after surgery (because the nurse told me she could see them on the system). I'm hoping that's a good sign though! It's been a very difficult time, not knowing whether it was cancer, and if so, what the next steps are. 

Have you had your surgery yet? 

Sam

Hi Sam 

Thank you  coming back to me - I’m pleased that all has healed well for you albiet it sounds like a painful process - I really hope your biopsy results come back clear - It sound positive though as like you say they have had the results for some time so if it was bad news surely they would have told you by now 

I Had  my biopsy 13 days ago - a friend had a suspected melonoma removed same day same clinic same doctor and had her all clear within 6 days (by text message) I have not had my results yet and would not have generally worried but because hers came back so quick am now anxious - I was told like my friend that if all was ok with the bIopsy  I would get a text message - if not the dr would call me -

I had a malignant melonoma removed from my thigh last July with larger wle in October - this tiny biopsy however on my webbing in between my toe has been super painful and I have had to limp around a bit due to the tricky place it is - who would have thought a tiny biopsy would cause so much pain

I my stitches removed yesterday at the clinic by a nurse - who advised the results were not in yet but she would get the dr to phone me - the waiting is the worst isn’t it !! I have stupidly consulted dr Google so head is not in a good place 

sending you lots of positivity for your appointment next week - please let me know how you get one best wishes Dexter 

Hi Dexter,

So I got my results and unfortunately it was melanoma so I am having to go back for further surgery. I was given the option to have 1 cm or 2 cm margin removed, however the 2cm would mean having the toe amputated, and with the 1 cm I keep the toe. So I've decided to go with the 1 cm option, mainly because I am starting a new job in November as a TA and will be on my feet a lot. Actually I'm not even sure if I'll be healed by then, as they are having to do the operation in two stages. I'll also have to have a lymph node biopsy at the same time, to check it hasn't spread. 

So my life has been thrown into turmoil yet again by cancer - I had breast cancer in 2022 and they threw everything at it, completely took over my life for over a year...) Hopefully this won't be that much chaos, but who knows! 

I've had my phone call to go through the health questionnaire and now am just waiting for a surgery date, which they said should be within 4 weeks as I'm a P2 patient (which I think means relatively urgentish).

Anyway, I hope you're doing ok. Did you get your result back yet?

Sam