Melanoma treatment

[Hangingwithmygnomies]

Sorry posting for traffic. This year has honestly been the worst year of my life. I've lost my Grandad, my Aunt who is like a second Mum to me is battling breast cancer, I may lose my job due to covid and now my sister (who is my best friend) has been diagnosed with melanoma. At the moment we're not sure at what stage she is but I want to be as prepared as I can be to be able to support her through this. What happens with melanoma treatment? Is it removed and then that's it or will she have to have chemo or radiotherapy? I need some positive stories as I'm really struggling with everything that's happened this year

My DH had melanoma twice. The treatment will vary, depending what they find out. It will include surgery. If it’s not advanced, that will be it.
First melanoma on my DH, initial surgery (local anaesthetic) to remove it, then further surgery when it was deemed melanoma (local anaesthetic). Second melanoma was general anaesthetic to remove it and remove lymph node. Involved dye being injected to work out which lymph node to remove. (day surgery). Second one was more complicated because it needed a plastic surgeon because of where it was. Lymph node was removed as a precaution. It was clear of cancer. No further treatment.

It depends what stage it is - they remove it and test lymph nodes to see if it has spread. If it hasn't spread they will either do nothing or maybe do some immunotherapy. If it has spread then it's immunotherapy, radiotherapy or chemotherapy

My uncle had several melanoma over many years. Only required surgery to remove, but they were all caught early. He died in his 80's off throat cancer in the end, so completely unrelated.

Other people I know have had melanoma removed 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, and have had no further issues. Just regular check ups.

Thank you all, just what I needed to hear. She is having day surgery tomorrow to remove it so will hopefully know more very soon. There was talk of another surgery but understandably, she didn't really take much in of what the Dr was saying. I'm really not sure how much more my family can take this year. I'm so glad I made her get it checked when she mentioned it to me a few weeks ago