Hi

That is a little odd. Has the letter been sent by the hospital central referral unit (they arrange appointments for all departments) or has it come from the dermatology department? If it's from the Derm Department I would ring the number on the letter and query it. If it's from the central referral unit, do not ring them (they have no idea of the workings of each departmnent) but do ring the dermatology department and query it with them. Good luck with your results and please let us know how you get on.

Angie (melanoma patient)

Thanks Angie,

Letters are usually through the referral centre, although I haven't got the letter handy I'm assuming that this one is the same. I will wait for the 6 weeks to be up, if I haven't heard anything I will call dermatology and see if they have my results, will question about the letter and appointment  at the same time. I hope they don't expect me to wait until November for my results, waiting lists are a nightmare here. Typically having a colposcopy Monday as well as my last screening was abnormal, also been told I may have to have treatment the same day. So things are a little stressful at the moment. Will keep you posted on how it all goes. 

Thanks again :-)

Hello,

this is pretty much exactly what happened to my girlfriend last week.

She removed a mole on the 17th of October, with her biopsy follow-up being scheduled on the 6th of November (today).

However, she received an additional dermatology follow-up appointment last week for March, without any explanation. She called to find out, but they did not know why another appointment was booked at such a late date without having the biopsy results first. Naturally, we were worried that this meant something was not right.

Thankfully, after getting the call for the biopsy today, she was informed that the mole was benign and that the additional appointment in March was possibly a mistake.

I just wanted to add our experience here just in case it would help others who might be in a similar position.