Hello
I'm new here and actually im pretty scared. I went to my GP regarding a mole on my shoulder, my GP was not worried but sent me for a dermoscopy "for peace of mind". Luckily she did as it come back as a suspicions mole. I had an urgent referral and was seen 2 weeks later by a specialist who then booked me to have the mole removed and biopsied a week later. That was 2 weeks ago. I was told I would get the results in around 4 weeks time but I have just had a call from the hospital asking me to attend an appointment on Wednesday. I feel like my world has come crushing down. I thought if all clear I would get a letter but now I have an appointment. Does anyone know what I could be expected to be told? I had quite a lot taken away (had about 14 stitches). I can not think straight, I asked over the phone if they could give me any more information and the lady said she cant. Why cant we just be told over the phone instead of now being told to wait :( I understand they are so busy but now ive got 5 days of absolute worry :( sorry if I have posted in the wrong section
Thank you for reading this and advising if possible
Jodie
Hi Jodie and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I'm sorry that you have the worry of an upcoming appointment to deal with after you've had a suspicious mole removed. Waiting for results can be really hard and I've had my fair share of waiting over the years so completely understand what you're going through.
Firstly, the person who phoned you from the hospital was probably someone from the appointment booking team and they are not allowed to give results out, whether they're good or bad, as they're not medically trained and wouldn't be able to answer your questions.
Secondly how you are given the results, either by letter or appointment, depends on the protocol of the hospital you're under. The first time I had a lesion removed I was given my face-to-face appointment date for results on the same day that I had it removed, so whether the results were good or bad I would have had an appointment. In other words you can't read anything in to the fact that you have a face-to-face appointment.
As for what you'll be told at the appointment that obviously depends on the result. If you're given the all clear then the consultant will probably want to check the wound to make sure it's healing well. If you're told that the mole is cancerous then you'll probably be told about the follow-up operation that everyone who has melanoma has called a wide local excision (WLE). I won't go into detail about that as, hopefully, you won't need to know 
Do come back and let us all know how you get on next Wednesday and, in the meantime, if you have any more questions please feel free to ask.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
It's unlikely that you will have had a WLE before you've had a melanoma diagnosis J1980 as the size of the WLE is in direct proportion to the depth that the melanoma is found to be and that won't be known, if in fact it is a melanoma, until it's been biopsied. Depending on the depth, known as the Breslow depth, an extra 1 or 2 cm is taken all around the area where the mole was removed, if it turns out to be melanoma.
An excisional biopsy can be over quite a wide area as the surgeon will want to make sure that he/she has taken enough of a margin from all around the suspicious mole to make sure, if it is a melanoma, that no cancer cells have been left behind. When I've had biopsies in the past I've had more than one injection of local anaesthetic as the surgeon obviously wants to make sure that you can't feel anything when he's operating.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Don't worry, none of us knew what was happening to start with and I'm hoping that you won't need to know anything more and it will just turn out to be a dodgy mole.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
