Malignant Melanoma

[saveforthat]

I was called for a lung CT scan (as an ex smoker). They found a mass in my armpit so referred me to breast care as I had breast cancer three years ago. Long story short it's actually skin cancer. I've got a dodgy mole on my shoulder which has obviously spread to my lymph nodes. I could kick myself as I've been meaning to check it out for ages. While I am waiting for the skin team to come back to me has anyone been through similar?

Hi, I know you posted this last week but thought I’d reply. Yes, I have, or am going through it at the moment. I had a melanoma on my scalp (that the GP said was nothing 🙄) that then spread to a lymph node in my neck. I had the original lesion removed and then another operation to take out more of the original site and the lymph nodes in my neck (only one had cancer but because it was spreading they just took them all out).

I assume they’ve already done the FNA on the lump if they know it’s melanoma. I assume they will want to remove the lymph node. It’s a big operation, but actually should hopefully not be too bad because it’s under your arm (mine is on my head and down the side of my neck, so a bit trickier maybe because it affects how you move your neck and swallowing/breathing). I was in hospital for 4 days, I think it’s usually 3-5 days.

The treatment for melanoma is generally either immunotherapy (infusions similar to chemo) or targeted therapy (pills) depending on the gene mutation. Mine is BRAF+ so it’s targeted therapy for me. You have immunotherapy if you’re BRAF-. I start tx in 2 weeks, just waiting on surgery wounds to heal first. It is really scary, but the treatment is very good now. The statistics they gave me are that after surgery with treatment 85% are recurrence free still at 5 years (that’s not survival, that’s never finding any cancer again after surgery). Survival rates are higher than that, which is really positive. Hope you hear about a plan for what’s next soon. xx