My Leg infection has by now started to make my leg look a bit manky – and the small scar has started to weep so I have it covered up with a bandage. I don’t see the point in going to the doctors to get anything for it when I know I am having it re-cut on Friday – it doesn’t “hurt” so that helps with the ignoring of it.
Thursday 1st August I have a Mole Mapping appointment booked – I have no idea what to expect – or what to wear.
It seems like such a trivial thing to worry about – I am certain that I will be stripped naked, yet I feel the need to shave my legs (avoiding the leg scar), wash & straighten my hair & try my best to not look like a “patient”! Vanity is not one of my proudest traits.
I arrive & am lead into a room and handed a surgical gown into which I need to change – nothing but the gown & my panties (although The Mr has delightfully questioned why no one has examined the mole between my butt cheeks- I tend to believe he is actually joking!)
I am sat down to first discuss my Moles & my history – the fact that my moles are so sinister.
The Dermatologist tries to reassure me that recent surveys in America lead them to believe more than 1 Melanoma means a lesser risk of Metastasis (spreading internally).
First they use a camera – that looks a bit like a glorified gun and photo each section of my body.
Then they pin point moles that are of interest – ones that in his opinion are ones that we should watch – to see if they change.
I went in thinking he would concentrate on the larger more prominent moles – because that is what my previous Melanomas were – they stuck out of the surface. Instead he seemed much more interested in smaller dark moles, moles of irregular shape, moles where the line around them is wriggly, moles that were not circular, mole clusters & collections of freckles.
He then photographed each of these through a glass disc – to take a photo of the close up & colour pattern of the Mole.
I have estimated I have about 100 moles. The consultant photographed 27 of “interest” and singled one of “no 13” as of concern ….”please ask Dr Porter tomorrow when he re-cuts your leg to whip this off at the same time just to be on the safe side”.
& with that I get dressed & leave…..I will now be Mole Mapped every 6 months. I have included here a guide called the ABCD check for Skin Cancer – I would advise however any Mole that you are concerned about is worth getting checked out. If like me you get fobbed off with an all is well nothing to worry about – photograph your mole – that way if it has grown or changed in a month you can go with with evidence.