I know someone who was recently diagnosed with Melanoma. The melanoma is on the front side of the ankle about 4 to 6 inches above the foot.
My friend asked the diagnosing doctor if he can wait a month to have the surgery, since he is in the process of leaving for a two week trip to Europe three weeks from today. His doctor told him that he can go ahead and go on his vacation to Europe, and then have surgery when he returns to remove the cancer.
I was surprised to hear that the doctor did not urge him to postpone the vacation, and to immediately plan for surgery to remove the melanoma?
My friend told me that they have already removed a dime size area of where the melanoma is located. The actual surgery will involve removing more skin.
I would think that the matter is more urgent because of where the melanoma is located. On the ankle there is less fatty tissue, and more connective tissue etc.
I respect the Doctors opinion however if it were I, I would postpone the cancer and get my behind into surgery ASAP? Does anyone agree with me?
Hi Fantastico and a very warm welcome to the group which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I was diagnosed with melanoma on my arm, so not the same area as your friend, nearly 9 years ago now. Judging by your use of words, like dime and vacation, I'm assuming that you and your friend are in America. As this online community is UK based you need to take into account that treatment here might be different to treatment in the States.
If melanoma is suspected here, an excision biopsy is carried out on the suspected mole/lesion. This removes the whole area, so if it is melanoma it has been removed at that point. Results take anywhere between 2-8 weeks to come back with the average being somewhere around the 6-8 week mark.
Once the results are back, the consultant will arrange for a wide local excision (WLE) to be carried out. This involves taking a further area of skin all around the original excision site to make sure that no stray cells have been left behind. Timescales on having this done are usually between 4-12 weeks after receiving the results, so anywhere between 10-20 weeks after the excision biopsy.
From what you've said it does sound like your friend has had an excision biopsy, been told it's melanoma and is scheduled to have a WLE on his return from holiday. However, you have mentioned that the operation he's having on his return is to "remove the cancer" so I can't be sure if this is the case.
I hope this helps but if you have any further queries I'll be happy to try and answer them based on my experience.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
