Hi Alittlebitlost,

I'm a Stage 3 melanoma patient and have been for almost 10 years so don't panic that it's the end of the world right now. I haven't had any adjuvant treatment so you also have that bonus on your side.

I know you must be feeling like you are wading through mud at the moment but believe me, once you have had chance to digest what's happening it will start to feel a little better. The wait between GP appointment & your results will, more than likely, have not caused the melanoma found in your node - it had probably already spread there before & sat there waiting to be found. In my case, I was diagnosed Stage 1b in 1996 & discharged 5 years later. In 2009 melanoma was found in a node in my groin and one in my pelvis. My consultant thought that it had probably travelled there in 1996 & sat there for 13 years before making itself known!

As for your GP, sadly very few GPs know what a melanoma looks like unless it's a mole that follows all the ABCDE signs. Yours was a flesh coloured melanoma, probably an amelanotic melanoma, and these are harder to diagnose so please don't be angry with your GP. It would be great if all GPs had a course on melanoma but only those who display an interest in the subject will have a half day course. The best way to help your GP is, once you have a treatment plan in place, ask to see them & tell them your diagnosis. It helps them in the future & they will then know, if presented with another flesh coloured mole, that a 2 week referral is necessary.

Your seroma will eventually break down & disappear. I know it's one more thing that makes you feel pants but it will resolve itself, as will the mobility in your leg due to your scar. The thing now is to find out as much as you can about what will be discussed at your oncology appointment because you will be given some options to consider. 

Firstly, they should tell you your BRAF status. Everyone carries the BRAF gene but in 50% of patients the gene is mutated so they are called BRAF positive patients. Those without the mutation are BRAF negative or wildcard patients. BRAF+ patients have an option of targeted adjuvant therapy which unfortunately doesn't work on BRAF wildcard patients. All Stage 3 patients have an option of receiving immunotherapy. So if you find out you are BRAF + you have 2 drug treatments to choose from. These are the options you will be offered. Some consultants still also offer further surgery to remove all the nodes in the area that it would spread to ie. if the primary was on the leg they would do a full node clearance from the groin to try & stop any spread. This was always the case before adjuvant therapy was offered to Stage 3 patients at the end of last year. Now, most consultants don't believe that the full clearance is necessary & will just offer Adjuvant Therapy (AT for short). If a node clearance is offered, it's your choice whether you want it or not. If you have it you will then get AT afterwards. 

A lot to take in, I know. I won't go into side effects of the different drugs etc as you are already probably feeling overwhelmed. I will send you a friend request. If you would like to know more or just to chat, accept the request & then we can speak by private message. With regards to your children, you don't say how old they are. Perhaps wait until you have seen the oncologist & then decide what & when you will tell them.

My consultant said to me, when giving me the Stage 3 diagnosis 'It's not the end of the world'. It didn't feel like that at the time but she was right - there is so much treatment out there now that we all have a reason to feel more hopeful & positive. Good luck with your scan and oncology appointment. Please let us know how you get on,

Angie