Hi Everyone. Not sure if I am in the right place but just wanted to say hello and ask if my "story" is normal - whatever normal is. I had a mole on my arm start to change a few months ago - I was aware that it was darker, not bigger, still perfectly round. I had it checked at the GP in July, had it removed on 7th September, went for results on 6th October to be told it is stage 1 melanoma. Shock or what!! The "C" word was bandied about all over the place, I stopped listening, felt in a fog. Oh and to add insult to injury was told I had "something" on my face so have been given efudix to use for 4 weeks. Fast forward to today when I received a letter from hospital with a date to go in for WLE and sentinel lymph node biopsy on 11 November. A general anaesthetic, at least over night in hospital. It all feels so fast!! I am pleased to have got the appointment through, don't get me wrong, but wondered if it is normal to be so fast or if the doctors are worried about something they are not telling me? Thank you for reading this far, if you have, I just feel very anxious and scared. xx
Hi LoveNorfolk and a very warm welcome to the online community
Can I start by saying that I certainly agree with your username!
I too was diagnosed with melanoma on my arm and had a WLE and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), although in my case this was 5 years ago now. I'm happy to share my experiences of the operations and recovery time afterwards if you want to ask anything.
Four weeks from being diagnosed to having the WLE and SLNB is about average at the moment. Thankfully gone are the days when doctors hide things from you so it's just that 11 November is the first available slot for the surgeon.
You might also like to join us over in the melanoma group and, if that's something you'd like to do, 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.
It would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with 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"
