Well it’s been quite a while since my last post. So much has happened in my personal life; we bought our forever home in Scotland and I took a well earned sabbatical last year to go and spend time there with my family to heal. Of course, in my 8 months there I had a scare, and my oncologist in Scotland suspected the melanoma had managed to get in my liver. It wasn’t until I returned to Hong Kong that it was confirmed to be benign. It was a really worrying time and my stress levels were through the roof. Since then I’ve returned to work, life has been great. Until recently. I noticed a new growth on my forehead, it was getting bigger and bigger. I had my dermatologist take a look and he removed it there and then. Turns out to be a Squamous Cell Carcinoma. While all this was happening, a lump appeared at the top of my thigh. One morning I woke up and it was black. I sent a photo straight away to my oncologist who told me I needed to see my surgeon asap. Of course, he was worried and suspected it was melanoma. So a few weeks ago I underwent surgery number 5! They removed the lump in my thigh and also the SCC on my forehead.
To say I was terrified is quite an understatement. More so because I thought melanoma was going to ruin another Christmas. It was Christmas Eve 2019 that I discovered I had melanoma; but was totally unaware of the journey I was about to embark. The wait was agonising and I couldn’t help but think ‘what if’.
A few days ago I received a call from my surgeon. The anxiety that travels through your body as you see that call come through. The hesitation, the fast beat of your heart, the deep breaths….it’s the worst few seconds you can imagine. However it was good news. The lump in my leg was a deep abscess. My PER scan had also come back clear. Thank god. The instant relief I felt was like a huge huge weight had been lifted. I could relax, my children’s Christmas hadn’t been ruined. I can focus on my future again. I think a lot of people don’t realise how serious Melanoma is. But I feel it’s a life sentence, like I’m a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Not sure when it will ever raise its ugly head again. But I have to focus on the positives and the present. And right now, we are all clear. So I will take that as a win.
The Melanoma in Me 