I know there is a whole thread on skin cancer but I never looked at it till this happened to me.
I am writing this to give people a heads up on doctors and skin cancer clinics.
Here is my story.

I have been religously getting my skin checked anually as I have been in the sun all my life. 18 mths ago I went and asked the doc to check this small lump on the back of my calf - about the size of half a pea -
He said it was not a cancer risk - went back 12 mths ago same thing - nothing to worry about.
2 months ago I decided to to MOle Scan here on the sunny coast - I again pointed out the lump - doc said - NO thats nothing to worry about. 3 weeks ago as part of my annual check at the gp I showed him and he said No nothing to worry about - I said I wanted it out as I thought it had got bigger - size of a pea. SO I booked in to get it out - 7 stiches and a week out of the water. When I went back to get the stiches out I bounced in and said was the patholgy all clear?

HAve a seat - It came back malignant melanoma - 4.3 mm deep which is what they call level 5
There is no level 6 - High indication that you are at risk of having it spread in your body
I got a referal to a specialist to get further margins cut out and also had a full body ct scan which fortunatley came out clear.
On tuesday I had further surgery to get a 4cmm x4 cmm x 2cm deep shark size chunk cut out to make sure
I just got the call from the surgeon - all clear - no cancer cells found thank god.

I have just had the biggest shock and scare of my life - zero on the fun scale.

So my warning to all - get a second opinion - and if you are concerned go to dermatologist



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If I had let this go as was suggested by 2 doctors - I would have had a bad prognosis -

I am now out of the water - for 3 weeks - 20 odd stitches - I have missed out on going to Bali for our coaching camp - BUT I should be ok in the long run although I will need regular monitoring.


me in recovery throwing up from the anasthetic