@00hjabl72: I'm so sorry to hear about your family's history with melanoma. Years ago, this diagnosis had carried a 10 year survival rate of approximately 5%. These days, the success rate for metastatic melanoma (cases where melanoma has spread to distant organs) has reached or surpassed 50% . For localized melanoma, such as in cases where it's detected on the skin and has not spread and treatment such as Mohs or WLE is performed, the rate of 5 year survival reaches 99%. This does indeed underscore the need for prompt detection and early intervention. In the scheme of things, trading a scar for a cure would tend to be the ultimate goal to achieve, however, it is a major life change and may require the intervention of a therapist to arrive at such acceptance if there is difficulty in coming to this type of conclusion especially if it involves the prospect of mortality.

Did you find it challenging to accept this when you had been given the diagnosis in light of your family history? If so, what steps did you find helpful in moving forward?