Well I waited an hour for the appointment and it took around 5 minutes.
She eye-balled the mole for about 5 seconds and said that it was an atypical mole, but because there were a few tiny darker spots in it, it should come off. She then did a shave biopsy, put a band-aid on it and told me not to expect her call. In her own words she would be "absolutely shocked" if this turned out to be a melanoma.
At first I felt a little bewildered as I felt as though I'd been waiting an hour to be shot out of a cannon, so-to-speak!
(they really don't hang around, that's for sure!) To be honest though, this dermatologist is experienced and highly recommended. I'm sure she sees thousands of moles in a month. I did ask why she had done a shave rather than excisional removal, and in her words the likelihood was "so low" of anything more than a benign mole, that it wasn't worth the scar. I guess I can appreciate that, as I am very low-risk for melanoma.
I feel pretty good though, overall. Usually I am a bag of nerves waiting for test results, but this time I am trying to take it easy and not worry so much. Myself and my wife have vacation at the end of next week, so I'm focussing on that. I really find it helps to remember all the things which make life great and worth living, rather than getting so lost in the negatives!
