Hi Elizabeth,

I'm sorry you are having this worry but the good thing is that you will be seeing a dermatologist who can answer all your questions, check the mole & hopefully put your mind at rest.

Can I say, from my many years of experience as a melanoma patient, that firstly, lymphoma is not connected to melanoma. So, should your mole be cancerous, it's not causing lymphoma. Secondly, if your mole is cancerous, it would not cause a swollen lymph node on your neck. Cancerous moles on the lower body cause swollen nodes in the groin or armpit. Cancerous moles on the head, face or neck cause swollen nodes in the neck. The lymphatic system (the route cancer cells take) move up the lower body towards the heart whilst the head/neck lymphatic system travels down towards the heart. 

Lastly, a lymph node that is swollen because it has any type of cancer cell in it, does not reduce or disappear. It stays swollen & sometimes gets bigger. Nodes that reduce and/or disappear are usually ones that are fighting an infection, even if you don't have any obvious symptoms of an infection so hopefully that's why your neck node was swollen.

I hope this has answered your worries. Where your mole is concerned, the dermatologist will examine it (probably using a dermascope) and will decide if it's fine or if needs removing for biopsy to 100% diagnose if it's a problem. 75% of patients that see a dermatologist for a suspicious mole are given a clean bill of health so hopefully that will be the case for you.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)