Hi there,  I am new to the forum, and currently overseas (although UK citizen hoping to return once Covid makes travelling plans easier).   Back in January our family all went for a routine skin check (we are currently in Queensland Australia - unfortunately not known as the skin cancer capital of the world for no reason :-(  We went mainly because we are all quite moley (and my husband is very fair/redhead with lots of moles/freckles)     Anyway, following a few shave biopsies done that day, the doctor rang my husband just 3 days later to say that one of his moles had come back as a melanoma.   Because it had been a shave biopsy, the pathologist wasn't able to give a completely accurate Breslow Thickness as they said part of the melanoma was on the edge of the shave - the report just said it was at least 1mm, but did say it was a Clark Level 3 depth.  There was no ulceration and the mitosis level was 1.  The melanoma had active and late signs of regression.   The skin clinic doctor the very next day after receiving the results called my husband back to perform a further excision - which we know excised the melanoma in full with a 1cm/2cm margin, and the subsequent pathology report said no trace of melanoma....he then referred my husband to the local hospital for further treatment.

I should probably add that the kind is superficial spreading melanoma....my husbands was pink / flesh coloured, but the very edge of this mole was a little pinched in (almost scar like), which i'm assuming was the regressed part of the melanoma.

When we had the 1st appointment last month, the doctor there told us that the skin clinic doctor should NOT have done the further excision as that should have been done at the same time as a SLN biopsy.   We didn't know this, so wouldn't have known to query what the doctor had done.   We know he only acted with my husbands best interests at heart by doing the excision, and wanted the thing gone asap.    The hospital said that they felt that they couldn't be certain that a SLN would now be accurate, however they would perform a further wider excision and SLN as day surgery because that was all they could do in order to check that the melanoma had fully gone and that it hadn't spread.

Roll on to last Tuesday - my husband went in for the surgery after visiting radiology to track what lymph nodes may be involved - as the melanoma was in the top centre of his back, the radioactive stuff went straight to the armpit nodes on both sides.   During surgery they did the excision (which is about 16/17cm in length) and removed a "hot" node from both armpits.   The surgery was performed by a general surgeon at the hospital who we believe handles the Breast Cancer surgeries and Melanoma SLN's there.  We go back to the hospital next tuesday for the results which I guess will set what the next stage of treatment/follow up will be, and hopefully we will find out what stage my husband is as we haven't been told that yet.

I have been reading about regression, and for the most part it seem's that this has always been looked upon as a bad thing, although more recently they seem to be saying that this might not be the case?     I am worried because we will never know the exact Breslow size of the melanoma for sure, unless just knowing the clark level is sufficient?

We are as everyone alway's is hoping for a negative result on the lymph nodes they took out, and hope that this means that my husband will be okay and can just do the check up's quarterly/half yearly for the next few years.  But from what i've been reading, I think no-one can predict how melanoma will progress.

Has anyone had a cancer diagnosis requiring follow up care / treatment when overseas and has returned to England to live permanently and continue their hospital care?     I am concerned about a gap in treatment as even getting a local GP to take you on I've heard is now a problem....and obviously a referral would need to be done by your GP to a hospital for ongoing checks.   We will not leave here unless my husband is just having regular checks...

I'm not sure what I am hoping for people to advise on my post to be honest, but I must admit it feel's good to have just written all of that.   I guess i'm fearful for my husband, and of course what the future might hold for our family and children.

My husband had suffered sunburn as a child, and as a younger adult (on European holidays etc), but in the last 10 years especially has covered up, worn factor 50, hats, rashvests on the beach etc, so I am guessing that whatever damage had been done many years ago led to this happening...

Thank you.