Hi Ade,

Firstly, thankyou Jenn for your mention.

Ade, as Jenn says, it will depend on the type of skin cancer your mam has but from what you say I'm guessing it's melanoma. If so, I can only give you advice about melanoma because I haven't personally experienced the other two types - basal cell & squamous cell carcinomas. 

The depth of the melanoma is the yardstick as to what treatment a melanoma patient receives but first they do a wider excision where the mole was to ensure they have removed a safe margin of tissue. This is called a Wide Local Excision (WLE) and it mops up any stray cell that may have broken away so that it doesn't spread anywhere else. Because your mam's tumour was so deep, they also do the radiation injection you mention. This is called a Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) and it's done at the same time as the WLE. They inject the area of the mole & track, with ultrasound, which lymph node it travels to. This is called the Sentinel Node & they will remove it (and sometimes the one(s) next to it) to send for biopsy. This is to check to see if the melanoma has already started to travel through the lymphatic system. If the WLE & SLNB results are clear, it means the cancer has been contained in the mole & has been successfully removed. 

Clear results would mean mam would then be monitored for a period of time. If the results aren't clear, they will then put mum on a course of drug treatment & regularly scan her to ensure the melanoma hasn't travelled further in the body. 

A deep melanoma is a concern, however, melanoma is a sneaky cancer & doesn't follow all the rules of other cancers. Someone with a deep melanoma can have no spread & have no further problems in the future whilst someone with a shallow melanoma can spread. Mine was only 0.7mm in depth but it spread. So it's a tricky cancer to get your head round sometimes.

Your mum is in good hands and treatment is showing great success these days. Melanoma focus is a great website for more information but meanwhile I will send you a friend request so that I can send you more information by private message. Good look to mam,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

Hi AngieT, thanks for all the information. Hopefully she gets the scan soon. It was such a shock to hear and I’ve felt anxious and numb since I found out on Thursday. I will keep you updated.

Hi AngieT, thanks for all the information. Hopefully she gets the scan soon. It was such a shock to hear and I’ve felt anxious and numb since I found out on Thursday. I will keep you updated.