Hello, I can't believe I am writing this. I'm still a little numb. I am a 34 year old female, married and a mommy to two children. I went to my doctor yesterday to have him look at a very tiny mole on my upper left arm between my elbow and shoulder. Although it was a very small mole, it did bleed and crust over several times. I guess I may have been in denial because I noticed it back in the summer, but thought maybe it was an ingrown hair or something. My sister said I really needed to get it checked out.
So my doctor says to me that he was suspecting melanoma, but was going to refer me to a plastic surgeon. (It takes 6 months to get into a dermatolgist around here). Miraculously he got me into a plastic surgeon today! I saw the note that he wrote to his nurse to tell the plastic surgeon, "34 yo female. Very likely nodular melanoma." The nurse must've saw me peeking at it because she crumpled up the paper. Too late!
So I go to the plastic surgeon today and he did a biopsy. I have 4 stitches. Should get the path report Monday or Tuesday.
Of course I researched nodular melanoma and I totally freaked out! The only encouragement I heard from both doctors was that the mole was very small in size.
In your experience, should I be worried? Picking out my funeral outfit? I'm trying not to think about it, but it's very, very hard.
Thanks for listening.