Hi everyone. 

For 2 months I’ve had a black toenail which started with a thin black line where the nail starts on the toe. There was no trauma and now the nail is pushing away from the nail bed Into an arch, still black with smaller lighter patches where it seems the nail is cracking or degrading in some way. It’s now looking like a black off centre oval/circle with faded edges under my nail which is approx 2cm wide / tall taking up around 90% of my large toe nail. 

I know photos are not allowed here - so I won’t post that  

There is however no pain but on occasion I find it weeping blood from where the nail is raising from the bed after washing the toe  

I am self employed and not on ANY benefits, so stress is inevitable - Unfortunatly due to myself being really sick for 6 months (due to other conditions I have including CFS/ME brought on by Chemical Poisoning, large Cartilage Growth under my sternum that breaks my ribs every few months as it grows, minor heart problems, faulty stomach valve and acid reflux, past abnormal cells found in. Cervical smear, multiple miscarriages (double figures over 5 years - while trying for our first child), and more recently blacking out and this black toenail combined with more stomach issues. 

My old Family GP retiring so having to find a new GP surgery and long wait times for Doctor appointments at my new GP it’s taken 2 months to finally get this seen by a doctor properly. 

I did however go to the walk in centre who told me to take a photo every day to see the progress of the nail until I can see my new Doctor. 

So so where I am now: 

i went today to see my new GP who had my toe under a magnifying glass. He said he cannot see any fungal infection, it doesn’t look like blood under there and if it was a fungal infection, over that period of time the nail would look different from how it does. 

Ive been given a 2 week urgent referral to a hospital which should do further tests to see what’s going on  

I don’t go to the doctors often but the GP is sending me to get extra bloods taken (a human MOT) as you might say, as he seems to think I may also have Chrones or Celiac disease as well. (Stomach / digestive issues) 

All my grandparents died of cancer, and I have myself already had abnormal cells found after a cervical screening biopsy a few years back. I don’t know if this changes the risk factor at all. 

Ive tried to block it all out over the past few months once my walk in centre doctor said it’s a possibility to be a melanoma but now things feel a lot more real  

I will keep you posted on the outcome. 

Updates:

17th July 2019 - seen by the go who sent fast referral to the dermatologist at specialist Cancer Research Hospital 

18th July 2019: Recieved appointment from specialist hospital I was referred to by GP awaiting appointment on 31st July 2019

20th July 2018: Recieved more info on my specialist appointment via post. I guess they will all be dreaded “yellow” letters. 

29th July 2019: For the last two days I’ve had some serious pressure pain under my toenail and into the joint. Still waiting for my urgent referral visit but that’s only a couple days away. The pain I’m assuming is due to the nail raising away from my toe due to whatever the black thing is growing under the nail. I’ve noticed some very minor clear liquid weeping from the edge of the toenail and the nail is continuing to discolour and has two added black dots alongside the 2cm larger black dark area.

31st July 2019:

Went to see the specialist who informed my GP had written “suspected melanoma” the specialist  who looked at it by eye, and took a photo of it with his iPad mini with some large lens attached and printed out the photo. He doesn’t seem overly concerned and thinks it may be an infection. A scraping sample was taken by the assistant and will be sent off for assessment. Either way I’m again waiting for results and have no idea as to how long they will take. If it comes back as an infection then the right treatment will be offered. If it doesn’t come back with being an infection then further tests will have to be done. 

My concern now is - does the scraping test only test for infections or does it also detect abnormal cells? What if it is a melanoma masked by an infection? I asked the questions but the specialist didn’t even answer them.

Update 7th August 2019: 

Still no test results back but the specialist had informed my GP to put me on a very strong antibiotic after his visual observations. One pill for 6 months to combat the infection I may have. However due to the aggressive antibiotic I have to also go for blood tests every 1-2 months to ensure that the medication isn’t destroying my liver. (Liver Function Tests)

Update 9th August 2019

The actual scraping test results came back negative for fungal nail and infection. But I’m still here with a now painful raises black toenail with a lump under it. I’m going to call the GP and see what further action I should take to getting this properly diagnosed. 

If it’s not an infection and not fungal nail - WHAT IS IT?