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Delayed Melonoma WLE

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Hi there 

I received a Stage 1 melonoma diagnosis after a private biopsy in early July. I really struggled to get into the NHS system, and was eventually seen by a nurse in early September. At this appointment, they weren't already aware of my diagnosis, and then had to request the samples from the private clinic for their disciplinary hearing meeting which took a few weeks. I've now been given an appointment to have my wide local excision in November. 

Should I be concerned that it will have been 4 months from diagnosis until WLE. Will the delay means it's more likely the cancer could come back in the future? And is there a possibility it could come back even if the WLE is clear?

I know it's irrational, but it almost feels like I've been punished for going privately initially because it's been so hard to get to this point already, so to still be 6 weeks away from a WLE is making me anxious. 

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    Hi,

    Please try not to panic. If you had been under the NHS from the beginning you would still have been waiting a long time between results and the WLE. Some hospitals have a 12 week wait between the results and procedure so, factoring in the wait for your records from the private clinic, they appear to be working as fast as they can under the post Covid waiting lists, strikes and lack of consultants.

    Most patients who have a timely WLE receive clear results. The longer the wait the more chance this could change but the chance it will is still minimal. Could it come back after a clear WLE? Obviously no one can know if a cell had already broken away before the initial removal and is now dormant somewhere along the lymphatic or blood system (like happened to me) but this is highly unlikely if it's a very thin melanoma (which I assume yours was less than 1mm ). 

    I will send you a friend request. If you accept it, we can chat by pm. 

    Good luck,

    Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

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