The first question in the series asks about when you first discovered your diagnosis.
How long have you been diagnosed with melanoma? What was the trigger for diagnosis? What made you seek an initial opinion?
Share your experiences and interact with other members in the comments below!
I was diagnosed in 2006. My disease originated in a mole on my back which I'd had ever since I could remember and then manifested a tumor on the front of my shoulder. It was the lump on my shoulder that alerted us something might be awry. Yep, sure enough, Metastatic Melanoma - Stage 4. It was also in my liver, pancreas and some lymph nodes.
My journey started less than a year ago. Last summer I was visiting my sister and we chatted about a few spots she had removed and biopsied with “precancerous” results which made me wonder about a mole that occasionally rotated me on my back. I visited my family doctor in September and a dermatologist in October. It was removed and determined melanoma.
I was initially diagnosed in 2005 with a low risk mole on my arm. 41/2 years later in 2010, it moved into one of the lymph nodes in my armpit and then one year later it moved into my brain, lung and liver when I was six months pregnant.
I first felt what I thought was a Mosquito bite on the top of my head around the late summer of 2012. I left it alone for quite a while, and then it grew into what felt like a blister. I had more hair then and that covered it up and made it easy for me to continue to ignore it. Then it was only well into November/December that it started bleeding that we decided to get it checked. It was mid December 2012 when we found it was a deep (not a lot of room on your scalp), large amelanotic melanoma tumor.
I was diagnosed in February 2017 with stage 2A. From a mole on my back that I was born with that had been changing rapidly. My obgyn suggested I have it removed.
I was diagnosed with melanoma in July 2016. I found out 2 days after the passing of my father in law, and I was also 6 weeks pregnant at the time. It was a mole I'd had forever on my thigh, that eventually started to spread out and become black. Initially the derm said it looked ok but I insisted he do a shave biopsy. I'm so happy I was my own advocate and spoke up. It was melanoma. Clark level 2 PT1a.
I was diagnosed with stage IIIb nodular melanoma in April 2014 after my daughter made me show a problem mole (it had been showing changes that I had been ignoring for a few months) to our family doctor. Three days later it was removed, and three weeks later I was in surgery for complete lymph node dissection and additional wide excision of the mole. Life-changing.
