Today is Wednesday. On Sunday or Monday night, I was looking on my wife's back and I discovered a strange looking mole. It was just shy of a quarter-inch long. One end of the mole was reddish, and the other end, going into the skin, looked purple, like a bruise had formed. In the three days since, it has not gotten any bigger, but it has changed color to almost completely black.
I called and scheduled a dermatologist appointment for this coming Tuesday morning. This is still on the books, but as a hedge, I have called my general practictioner, who will see her tomorrow afternoon.
I have done some research, and I am naturally concerned about nodular melanoma. Assuming for just a moment that it is just that, nodular melanoma, have we caught it in time? I can honestly say that before this weekend, I had never seen it before (and since it was on her back, neither has she.)