Hello Suz26 and thanks for your post,

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

I can't say how long the wait time will be for your procedures. You may get a better idea by ringing the dermatology secretary to see how long it is likely to be.

We do have some general guidelines on waiting times on our website which may give you an idea but won't say what is happening in your particular area. 

After you have had your sentinel lymph node biopsy and  wide local excision It usually takes a couple of weeks to get the results as these are normally reviewed in a formal meeting with all the doctors involved.

Try and take things one step at a time. They will not make any decisions about your next steps until they get the results from your SNB and WLE and any other scans that they decide to do.

I can understand how unsettling it can be waiting but hopefully you will hear soon. You may be asked to go to a pre assessment clinic when you will have a chance to ask questions about your different procedures.

I hope you know more soon.

If at any stage you would like to ring and chat any of this through with one of the helpline nurses you are welcome to do so.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

All the best,

Catherine

Hi Suz26,

I'm not a nurse but I've been a melanoma patient for many years.

I'm afraid current waiting times for a WLE & SLNB are taking quite a while. This is due to a radiographer needing to be present for the SLNB & it's causing delays. Every hospital is different at the moment so it could be anything from 2 weeks to 10 weeks. 

I don't know how long you've already been waiting but I suggest you contact your hospital and ask for a possible timeline. If it's going to be very long you have two choices - you can either see if another hospital has a shorter wait for the procedures or you can decide to only have the WLE which will be done much quicker. I know a couple of patients who didn't want to wait months so had the WLE within a few weeks. If a patient decides against a SLNB they can ask the hospital if regular ultrasounds of the nodal area would be offered instead. 

The thing to remember is that a SLNB is not a treatment but is used as a Staging tool. If melanoma is found in the sentinel node it means the Staging changes & this then affects the treatment path. If your surgeon was concerned & mentioned possible immunotherapy, that can only be accessed by having a positive SLNB. So you need to weigh up having to wait longer to have a more definitive diagnosis against cutting short the wait & having a WLE which doesn't change your staging & doesn't make you eligible for immunotherapy. Perhaps try & contact the cancer nurse (you should have been given their contact details) to discuss it so you can make a considered opinion.

Good luck & please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)