Experiences of melanoma
Lesley's Story
I had a mole on my arm for a few years, it did change and did bleed but I thought it was because I kept messing with it. When I did finally go to the hospital, the doctor I saw did not biopsy it, just tried freezing it as she thought cosmetically it did not look very nice. I was then discharged after 3 or 4 treatments.
Because the mole did not seem to disappear completely, after about 3 months I phoned the hospital and asked to see someone again. Luckily this time I saw a consultant who did the biopsy, (although they started to cut the mole out forgetting to give me the anaesthetic first, which did hurt a bit!!!!) It was confirmed as melanoma but was only 0.9 mm thick and was removed a week later under local anaesthetic. I honestly never gave it another thought, sure I kept going to have my check ups but never realised how serious this was. I was under a private consultant and trusted her.
After about 2 and a half years, I thought I could feel a lump under my arm. I immediately rang for an appointment and was seen straight away and was relieved to hear that the consultant couldn't feel anything, I even had a follow up letter confirming this was the case. I went for my next 3 monthly check and mentioned the lumpiness again, but was again told that it was only muscle that the consultant could feel. I then left it for the next three months till the next check up. It was getting bigger but as I had been told it was ok I did not worry.
When I did go again for my check up, the consultant looked shocked and asked me how long I had had this lump. I then went on to have the lump and lymph nodes removed. I only had one node that contained melanoma but because this node was large I was given a 50/50 chance of it coming back. I decided to have Interferon and took this for 18 months. The first three months were very hard going. The side effects are quite bad. 6 hours after I injected myself in the stomach, I started to feel shaky, hot, had a severe headache, flu like symptoms but really quite strong and was pretty useless until the next morning when I just felt wiped out and tired. This happened every other day for three months. Then my new consultant swapped me on to a "Pegylated" version of the drug which was easier to bear.
Unfortunately after the 18 months, I started to feel nauseous and lost about 2 stone through not eating. I did have a little bit of psoriasis before treatment and this became quite bad. I also ended up with two severe rashes so my consultant advised me to stop taking the Interferon.
I am now just on a three monthly check up again, but do feel very let down by both the NHS and private medicine and feel that I should have been offered a SNB when first diagnosed and a scan when I thought there was a lump. I want a scan again now but am being refused as I am presently not showing any symptoms, but I am scared that there is something brewing inside and that when it is discovered it will be too late.
I have a young son and I do not want to leave him with no Mum. I wish there was more consistency in the approach to MM and I am so pleased that the melanoma site exists with people who can help and give lots of advice. I do not post that much but am always following peoples stories. Here's hoping for good news in the future and on with the waiting game for us all.