Where do I start.... My husband in January of 2012 went to have a mole checked and it turned out to be 1.7mm melanoma which was removed and confirmed at stage 2b. Reassured that this was successful and checkups on his skin were every 3 months for 2 years and every 6 months after that which we paid for to be what we thought cautious and on top of things.
fast forward to March 2019, after a routine check again nothing was looking like a new mole and no lymph glands in groin were swollen or swollen in his arm pits so all good one would think. Couldn’t be more further from good as two weeks later my husband found a lump under his left arm pit deep down and I could just about feel it but because it was giving him pain his dermatologist decided a scan should be performed. The scan confirmed there was a 4mm lump and a biopsy would be performed which then confirmed metastatic melanoma and a week later the news was delivered that we are now at stage 3 but my husband would need a CT scan to see if the spread was anywhere else I.e other nodes or god forbid an organ or organs. All I can say is the waiting for CT which confirmed he was at stage 4 as it was in his left lung lobe and then a PET scan showed and confirmed this along with 3 other node sites near the lung have been the most stressful and extremely difficult to coupe with. Not only have we had to wait but been told that if this was his original at 2b he would have had a gene test and we could have paid ourselves for a scan to see if any metastatic sites were evident, an option which I really hope this reaches others at an earlier stage can take the opportunity to have. I am assuming his was not detected earlier because the lymph glands in his chest was never checked.
The only one good thing we have to cling onto is that he tested positive for BRAF gene mutation and we are now waiting for our appointment at the Royal Marsden on Wednesday to see what treatment they will offer him.
The tumour under his arm is as big as a Tennis ball now and that is in three weeks so am worried it is now making its way up the paratracheal at a highlighted lymph node to his brain.
We have two two teenage children one is doing her IB exams in the next 8 weeks and one doing his GCSEs in the next 8 weeks so we have taken it upon ourselves not to tell them just yet but will do so when they finish.
Life is like living in purgatory and I can’t imagine it without him here for our children especially, nobody deserves to go through this and I pray he reacts well to any treatment.
Has anyone else got a similar story to share that has worked out well.... or not? I swing from thinking he has months to hoping for a miracle to praying please god give him a year.
