UK Skin Cancer and Melanoma Patients

[debi]

Hi.. I had a mole removed from my right calf late december. Was found to be a Stage 2B mm. Went back to have a bigger area removed, had skin graft & a lymph node removed from my right groin.

I have to go back for 3 mth check ups.

I have been reading the messages on this forum for some time now & I am confused!!!

Can anyone tell me what a stage 2B is?

Also, are the checkups (i have to have them for at least 5 yrs) to check for more moles or are they to check to see if the mm has spread?

I was ok with checkups until now but I feel i'm just a time bomb waiting for not IF but WHEN it spreads.

Hvae i got it right or am i just being abit paranoid?

Really scared & confused.

Can someone please give me abit of advise on this.

[heather]

Hi Debi and sorry you have ended up here and are feeling so confused and worried - a pretty normal rection, I'd say! Basically, the stages refer to how advanced the melanoma is . Melanoma is divided into four stages so stage 2 is still relatively undeveloped. For information on staging, you should look at mymalignantmelanoma.com, which has a list of FAQs and links to other sites giving information on staging and survial stats.
As for the check-ups, my experience is that these are mainly aimed at checking whether there is any further spread, primarily by checking key lymph glands, rather than looking for more affected moles - though, of course, should you find these yourself, they will also look at them.
Most of the discussions on this site are not done through the Chat Room buit through General Info on Melanoma which is probably why you haven't had other replies yet. Hope this helps

[debi]

Oooops! Thankyou for that.

I'll post again on general info but thankyou for your reply.