Sending lots of hugs and good thoughts your way! It's great that you get checked regularly, and take good care of your skin, and I hope that knowing that you have done everything right will help give you strength while waiting to get your results. Keep us posted.

You're in my prayers, K.

Hugs to you! I'm so glad you caught it early and I am sending all my very best wishes that it goes no further than this!

Kirstie, I am going to grab hold of Louise and Julie's hands with you.. Please know that your YLF family is holding your hand and circling the globe with hope, prayers and well wishes. You are in my thoughts and I hope that you receive good news next week. xoxo

My healing thoughts are with you, Katie. So sorry that you have to wait for the results. Hang in there - and we are always stronger than we think. We are here if you need us.

Just want to say Yes! I am crossing my fingers for you. It does sounds like all signs point toward the positive, so I am crossing my fingers for that. Hang in there Katiepea! I know it is not easy!

kirstie...you are in my thoughts. sending healing karma your way. many many hugs. we'll be here when you're ready to let us know what happens next.

It's OK to feel scared. You are not being a drama queen. I know waiting for results can be such a wrecking event. Try to relax and do something you enjoy. I am sending you my best wishes. Everything will be OK, my fiancee had one removed at a very early stage as well and he is fine three years later.

I am sorry to hear that Katie !! The "C" word is very scary. Your suggestion that everyone get checked is something positive that will come out of this. I had melanoma many years ago and they took a chunk out of my jaw line. It was early, like yours, so I didn't need radiation or chemo ( You can barely see the scare ). My mom has also had something like 5 melanomas, again all early because we are vigilant.

Don't let this reframe you life, just be thankful that you now are alert to it and can catch it early. GOOD LUCK !!!!!!! Let us know how the margins work out.

I'm so sorry you're going through this KatiePea! It sounds like you have a lot on your side. I'll be hoping and praying for the best for you. Please take good care of yourself and let us know what you find out.

Sending good thoughts, Katie.

Sending thoughts and prayers your way, Katie. My brother, a very fair red-head, has had several melanomas - all small - successfully removed without any further treatment needed. I know that you are scared, but try not to worry - we are here with you!

Good point about checkups. My entire family is VERY fair skinned (Scots-Irish); my siblings and I visit our dermatologists yearly for thorough checkups. We all use high SPF sunblock daily.

Just wanted to add my good wishes to all the others. Stay strong!

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words and support, you really are so kind and beautiful. I can feel your energy, your love, your empathy and can feel you holding my hand.

I am currently feeling quite sheepish and like I've been a drama queen for posting here yesterday - all I can say is that I was so incredibly pent up with emotion and trying outwardly to be calm around my little children yesterday. My beautiful hubby was at work and I was alone at home with the kids until he got here. Thank you for Angie and everyone for providing me with a much needed outlet to voice my biggest fears. I promise you that it won't be a frequent occurence.

It has made me feel better to hear these stories about people who have had melanoma's cut out and are all fine, often many years on. Can you please tell me, when you first heard the news, did you also feel the way that I currently am (ie. panic, fear the worst)? It is fine if you didn't feel the same extent of fear - I'm trying to work out whether my reaction is rational or a tad over the top. Could you tell me, after you got the all clear following removal/surgery, how long did it take for you to realise that you were ok and could still go on to live a long and healthy life, not living in fear of dying from this "condition"? Straight away? After a year? More than that?

My husband is so incredibly furious with the Dr for even saying that diagnosis to me off the cuff without having pathology results to back her up. He thinks it was a cruel thing to say, given she knows how I lost my mother a couple of years ago. You know what, I agree - I'm feeling a bit mad now as well!!

I am hoping that pathology wouldn't take a week - I'm hoping I'd know either way Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Anyway, thank you so much everyone. I truly hope that I have been blabbing about this and getting myself all worked up over a Dr being careless with her choice of words. I promise after my family and closest friends have been informed of the next steps (if any), I will write and tell you all!

Once again, please let me use this in a positive way to be a nagging mother and remind you to GET YOUR SKIN CHECKED!!! Please do this EVEN if you do not like spending time out in the sun and EVEN if you use sunscreen. Remember, you can't see all of your body - mine was on my lower back and very small - my hubby didn't notice it as being abnormal in appearance. OK, mother rant over.

Now my gorgeous hubby is going to make me pancakes for breakfast. (I love having a personal chef on a weekend morning to cater to my every whim! :-))

Back to gorgeous fashion and style...

x

Just wanted to send you a virtual hug and tell you to vent as much as you want/need here. It's very important to let out pent up emotions and fears, and we're here to listen and lean on, always! When will the doctor have the results? I pray it's going to be ok and you don't need additional surgery. Sending warm wishes and thoughts.

Dearest Kirstie, never ever apologize for giving way to your feelings. We are your friends, regardless of whether we've met in the flesh or not, and if you can't speak honestly to your friends then you can't do much.
I believe that your dad has hit upon an excellent way to look at this issue, and I hope it gives you comfort. But if you find that some days his wise words simply won't register, that's ok. It's perfectly natural and even healthy to be worried about this development, and you are allowed to think of your own mental well-being as well as your family during this time.
Your doctor certainly sounds like she has things well in hand, and I sincerely hope the procedure you just went through closes out this chapter of your medical history. Whatever happens, please let us know.
Love and hugs from this Canadian cancer survivor!

KP, sorry I just read this! Sending you lots of hugs and love. I just checked in and haven't read all the responses, but I know you will have tons of support with whatever happens. I recently went through a health scare myself, and I know how frightening it can be to think of all the possibilities. Take care and keep us posted.

Katiepea, it is totally natural for you to feel anxious and scared, so please don't apologise for it. As many people believe God works in mysterious ways to make things happen, I believe the universe works in many ways similarly, and what you speak becomes truths. So instead of worrying and being anxious, try saying to yourself that you are strong and healthy, strong and healthy. Just repeat it to yourself over and over and focus on the positive, don't let negative thoughts enter your mind. Some people might think that's a load of old cods wallop, but it has worked for me over a very hard and trying last 9 months and I can only hope that it will work for you too. Stay strong Katiepea xx

Katie, Hang in there!! Doctors say the stupidest things sometimes! I don't believe they realize the impact words have!!
Lots of prayers and support coming your way!

Sending more hugs your way and keeping my fingers crossed for you, Katie :-). Having been through something very similar myself (except in my case, it was a few breast tissue biopsies), I can totally relate to the stress, anxiety and even fear this kind of experience can cause. Do you know anyone close by who has been through something similar? I found that it helped a lot to talk to someone else who'd been down that road before me.

Also, for what it's worth, your Dad sounds great. So supportive and wise

You might do well to mention how your doctor's remarks affected you to her so she can learn to be more careful with others in the same situation in the future. Glad to hear you are being well taken care of! (-:

K, please do not apologize or feel sheepish! I pictured the exact scenario in my head ~ you were home with the little ones, couldn't talk on the phone to other adults b/c they were underfoot, and all the pent-up fears and gush of emotion just needs to come out somewhere so that you can work your way through it. We are here for all that!

>It has made me feel better to hear these stories about people who have had >melanoma's cut out and are all fine, often many years on. Can you please tell >me, when you first heard the news, did you also feel the way that I currently am (ie. >panic, fear the worst)? It is fine if you didn't feel the same extent of fear - I'm trying to >work out whether my reaction is rational or a tad over the top.

I vividly remember the phone call from the surgeon. When I had shown the mole to the dermatologist, she had said it might be atypical but that she wasn't concerned it was anything serious (and she even said if she thought it was serious she would have walked me down the hall to the surgeon immediately). She referred me to a surgeon to have it removed though, and the surgeon also said she didn't think it was anything of concern. So when the surgeon gave the biopsy results, I remember being in shock. I was at work in my office. I closed the door and called my then-BF (now DH). He started crying. I remember mostly how I wanted to learn everything there possibly was to know about melanoma. However, the surgeon also spent a lot of time explaining to me that the margins were clear, that the cancer was localized, that I would be okay and didn't need any other treatment besides a bigger excision. I also did not have kids at that point. That has a HUGE impact on how I view things and react to the world around me nowadays.

>Could you tell me, after you got the all clear following removal/surgery, how long did >it take for you to realise that you were ok and could still go on to live a long and >healthy life, not living in fear of dying from this "condition"? Straight away? After a >year? More than that?

I was lucky in that I didn't worry much about dying from this melanoma given the excellent approach my surgeon took, but boy did I ever think of the sun as Evil Incarnate afterward. The surgeon and the dermatologist both put the fear of G*d in me where the sun was concerned! I had always been pretty good about protecting myself from the sun as an adult but I went to extremes after this. It really affected how I lived my life for quite a while, a good couple of years. Those feelings of the sun as some devilish creature out to kill me slowly lessened and have quite vanished now. I had the melanoma 13 years ago.

KP, feel free to pm me if you want. Anytime.

BIG (((hugs))) Katie. Please don't apologize for venting. I cannot imagine being in your position but I am sending many thoughts and prayers your way.

Oh Katie, I'm sorry. Don't apologize for sharing - it's not good to keep these feelings pent up, and it's completely natural to feel this way. I totally understand how you're feeling right now because I was in the same situation several years ago.

The first suspicious mole was also on my lower back and it was my first serious scare (it turned out fine). Then a year later my doctor found an early melanoma on my ear lobe, and I had two plastic surgeries to remove it (to remove more margin, and to put my ear back together).

When I first found out about my ear I was shocked and afraid. And what shocked me the most was my own reaction, which I didn't expect. I didn't expect that it would hit me as hard as it did. I never expected to feel so afraid and so angry.
My dermatologist and the surgeon were very calm about it, and I got the feeling that it wasn't an emergency surgery, so it reassured me a bit. My general doctor, however, told me it could be serious, and how she had a male patient who died very shortly after they discovered his late-stage melanoma (my general doctor is excellent, but can be harsh at times as you can see).

Hang in there, Katie. We're thinking about you.

Sparky, so true about viewing the Sun as The Evil Incarnate. Like you, I was always good about limiting my sun exposure, except when I was a child and sun bathing was actually encouraged. And melanoma is this weird beast that's unlike more shallow skin cancers like basal cell and squamous cells cancers. For example it can grow in places that get little or no sun exposure. It's believed that sun plays a role, but it's not the whole story.

Anyway, I also went through a phase when I avoided the sun like crazy. I drove myself and my family nuts, obsessing with sunscreens and coverage, and basically living like a vampire. I realized I was making myself more miserable, but I let myself go through it because it was a part of learning to deal with the reality of this disease. Plus I had a feeling it will lessen with time. And it did. I'm far less obsessed now than I was two years ago.

(curiously, I became hyper aware of sun damage and sun protection about a year BEFORE my melanoma surgery)

I can't say I'm completely calm about it, though. I know I'm genetically predisposed to have skin cancer, so I'm still vigilant about sun exposure, and keeping track of all my numerous moles, and generally staying healthy. It also reminded me to live life as fully as possible. And that's why I've taken to having fun with fashion

So sorry that you are going through this. However, you are not alone. Our health IS serious business so no worries about reaching out and sharing your fears. I'm so thankful you are vigilant about getting checked. I will be praying for your week and the test results. Waiting is so hard...distract yourself with being in the moment with your loved ones. Lots of hugs to you!

So sorry to hear this has happened, but like your Dad,pleased to hear it was picked up so early. My thoughts will be with you over the next few weeks.

I have no real words of wisdom, Katie. Only hugs and well wishes.

Sorry, Katie, I didn't answer one of your questions.

You asked: "Could you tell me, after you got the all clear following removal/surgery, how long did it take for you to realise that you were ok and could still go on to live a long and healthy life, not living in fear of dying from this "condition"? Straight away? After a year? More than that?"

I think I calmed down significantly after the last pathology result, which was negative. Then I had follow ups with my surgeon for one more year, and he would basically check my ear and the surgery site to be sure nothing was showing up again. By that time, these appointments didn't feel any different than my regular dermatologist checks. In fact, I'm more anxious about my other moles than my ear.

So to answer your question, it was very fast, almost instant. The initial waiting for surgery and consequent test results was the most stressful.

Hang in there and stay strong. And distract yourself with whatever in the meantime. I also think it's healthy that you're not in denial and pushing down your feelings.

Oh Kirstie, I am sending you the most massive of hugs and want to jump in my car and come down and give you one in real life...

I think its perfectly naturally for you to be as cautious as you are about this. But I also think that the right steps have been taken, and you are in good hands.

The girls dad has a condition (the name escapes me now), but it causes lots of skin lesions, and when he was 18 he was diagnosed with melanoma and told he had 18mths to live if he didn't have it removed ASAP. So, he has a massive scar on his neck that has been covered with a skin graft from his thigh (and FWIW, he said the skin graft was more painful than any other part of the whole ordeal), and is vigilant about getting everything checked - he pretty much goes to the Dr's now and lists the moles he wants removed and they just take out as many as possible in each visit just to be sure. But, he is now a very healthy almost 35 year old who is very vigilant about keeping his own skin, and the girls skin protected.

Please, vent as much as you need, and know that you are the thoughts of many.

Big hugs sweetie.