Malignant melanoma part two

Malignant melanoma part two

Author
Discussion

Mr Green

Original Poster:

936 posts

189 months

Wednesday 31st March 2010
quotequote all
18 months ago I was diagnosed with MM grade 3, not good but 2 operations later I was given the all clear(whatever that means). I looked into it a found that 4 out of 5 people recover from skin cancer(MM).
Move on 18 months and I have developed a lump close to the original excision which has been removed, the results of the biopsy have come back as, in the registrar doctors own words,'showing signs of melanoma'. How can I find out what 'signs' means? My blood test results came back as slightly anemic, again what does 'slightly' mean on a scale of 1 to 100.
Now I find that 80% of people that get skin cancer get lumps under the skin usually 18 to 24 months after the all clear. Nobody told me about this, what else have I not been told?
Has anyone got any experiences of dealing with MM long term? I am going in hospital on Tuesday to have 3 more lumps removed, at this rate I'll end up looking like I've been in a knife fight.

drfrank

785 posts

209 months

Wednesday 31st March 2010
quotequote all
I perform a lot of surgery for the treatment of melanoma but I'm unsure by what you mean as being Grade 3.

There are various staging tools for melanoma, the most widely used being the AJCC classification. This takes into account a whole host of histological information along with other clinical findings.

If you get the rest of the info I will try and help interpret it for you

Drfrank

Mr Green

Original Poster:

936 posts

189 months

Thursday 1st April 2010
quotequote all
I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in August 2007, the size of the mole removed was 5.2mm and as such I was told it was grade 3 out of 4. It was on my chest on the left, my lymph nodes were checked and they did a block removal of the ones on the left.
I got the all clear on December 3rd 2007. No one told me to look out for lumps after about 18 months but I was being checked every 6 months. In February this year I found a lump in between the first excision and the Lymph nodes(scar), this was removed immediately and the results come back as showing signs of melanoma. I have now found 3 more small lumps(lower back, left buttock, right chest) and they are being removed next Tuesday.
I would like to know how often are these lumps likely to appear?

I would appreciate any advice you can give.