Hi,
I guess I find myself here because like so many I was diagnosed with melanoma cancer although I am still waiting for biopsy results. My story started a few weeks ago when a mole on my chest started bleeding for no apparent reason. GP appointment the following day resulted is a dermatology appointment a fortnight later. I went in on Friday morning and I become alarmed when the first person that looked at said wait a min left the room and came back with the consultant. They both left the room coming back a couple of mins later saying I need to come back in a few hours the first person saying prepare for the worst. Alarm bells really started ringing and I asked why and they replied you have melanoma. I said I have a few more moles which were checked. I was told one in the inside of my thigh near my groin was also a melanoma.
I came back a few hours later and had both removed. I asked the consultant in their experience how they looked she told me, I will at the least need more surgery but a multi disciplinary team will decide the level of treatment. I asked so I definitely have cancer the reply was yes. I said I thought it was caused by sun exposure yes was the reply. I replied saying I am not saying I have never removed my top but I have genuinely never sunbathed she said it can only take on exposure. I asked how does that explain the mole on my inner thigh as that most certainly never seen sunlight. I can’t explain that was the reply.,
I now have the agonising wait of 4 to 6 weeks for biopsy results, apparently covid means it’s taking longer to process results.
it is it normal for a consultant to diagnose before results?
Hi Scotland63 and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is an informative and supportive place to be.
To answer your question about whether it's "normal for a consultant to diagnose before results" I'd say in my experience that they can make an educated guess but only the biopsy will give you a definite result. I was diagnosed 5 years ago with melanoma, when my consultant thought that it was nothing to worry about (famous last words), but last summer a lesion that my consultant was worried about came back as normal!
In my experience 4-6 weeks is the normal length of time to wait for biopsy results. You should have been given a contact number in case you haven't heard anything after the period of time they gave you.
While you're waiting you might like to join us over in the melanoma group as there you'll find others who are waiting for results too. If you'd like to do that just click on the link I've created and then choose 'click to join' or 'join' (depending on the device you're using) on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
If the moles do turn out to be melanoma then the treatment is what's called a wide local excision where basically a bigger area of skin is removed all around the original site to make sure that clear margins have been achieved. For most people, myself included, that is all the treatment you will need although you will have 3 monthly check-ups for 3 years followed by six-monthly check-ups for 2 years.
When you feel ready, it would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment 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.
If you have any difficulty navigating the community just drop me a reply and I'll be pleased to help
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
I hope I can offer some reassurance Scotland63 in that there is absolutely no way a consultant can know that you have terminal melanoma just by looking at your mole. The only way they can be sure it's melanoma is by having it biopsied and the only way they can know that it's spread, meaning a possible incurable diagnosis, is by testing lymph nodes and doing scans of your whole body.
I know how easy it is to jump to the worse-case scenario but try to take just one step at a time. You currently need to focus on waiting for your results and doing things to keep your mind away from the "what ifs".
I didn't say that a consultant can tell just by looking at a mole I actually said that they can't know for certain just by looking at a mole. In my case the mole that was a melanoma the consultant didn't think was, while the mole that the consultant thought was melanoma wasn't 
There are plenty of people in the melanoma group who were absolutely certain that their mole was melanoma, from a combination of what they'd read and what the consultant had told them, who have come back since to say it wasn't melanoma.
I'll watch out for you over in the melanoma group.
(((hugs)))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
