Hi. 
 

I am hoping that someone will have a similar experience and can help reassure me. 
 

I saw my doctor yesterday after discovering a large, irregular black mole in - of all places! - my vulva. 
 

I didn't even know vulval melanoma was a thing. My doctor has referred me as urgent to the local genital dermatology clinic and now I face two weeks of absolute dread whilst waiting. 
 

i can't sleep unless I take a sleeping tablet (of which I am running out!) and I am struggling to function at all. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous but I felt that I knew as soon as I spotted it in the mirror that this was something really, really bad. 
 

I've had several rounds of  surgery in the past to remove benign ovarian tumours and was left in constant pain as a result - but my low abdominal pain has increased over the last year and I am terrified that I have a melanoma and that the pain is because it has spread. 
 

Has anyone experienced anything similar? If it's cancer the surgery needed will leave me mutilated and will spell the end of my sex life (I am currently single and over fifty) and I can't bear the idea that I will always be alone.