34-year-old male, diagnosed with Stage 2A melanoma in Sep 2021.
June 2021 - Found a raised lump as part of an existing birthmark on my upper right leg and went to the GP the next day to get it checked over. They said it was probably nothing and looked more like scarring, but sent photos off to the dermatology department at the hospital. GP then called to say the dermatologist wanted me to go in to have it checked urgently.
July 2021 - First dermatology appointment, he was pretty concerned by it and when I asked what % he thought it was skin cancer, he said he was 75-80% sure it was.
August 2021 - Had an extra 2-week delay for the excision because of a positive COVID test - annoyingly I think it was a false positive, as I took another 4 tests in the days afterwards and they all came back negative. Had the lesion removed, along with a second one on my ankle. That doctor didn't say too much about it.
Sep 2021 - Had a call from the hospital to go in for a follow-up appointment with a nurse- when I looked her up I saw it was the Skin Cancer Specialist Nurse, so feared the worst. She, unfortunately, confirmed that the lesion on my leg was melanoma and that it was Stage 2A.
The melanoma had a thickness of 3.6mm, so was quite thick, but there was no ulceration. She confirmed that there was a 1mm cancer-free radius around the outside and a 5.6mm cancer-free area below the lesion. So fingers crossed it hasn't spread.
The nurse was great, gave me plenty of information and answered all the questions I had as well as giving me a full-body scan.
Currently waiting for my appointment with the plastic surgeon on Sep 22nd, before having a WLE and SLNB 3-4 weeks after that.
