Ginger, I had a stage 2 or 3 (can't recall) melanoma many, many, many years ago. It was also on my lower forearm. I had several lymph nodes removed, and two very large skin grafts, one from my stomach to cover the large site on my arm, and one on my upper thigh to cover the grafted site on my stomach! I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. Of course, this was way back in the 60's , and the cure is much less invasive now.
Well, I now have another melanoma, just popped up within the last skin check. It is called "in situ", which means it has not started to spread yet, and will just require a fairly simple surgery in the drs. office. Big difference! And, no, this was NOT from the sun!
Since I have had 4 other major cancers, not melanomas, the obvious question I have is, why have I had so many cancers, and all somewhat rare types? Genetics I say!