Hi, I was diagnosed with Clarke stage 4 melanoma last October, I am 35 with 2 kids ages 11 & 9 and a fab husband. I had a large area removed from my back and also had sentinel lymph node biopsy which showed lymph nodes under my arm to be the ones at risk, they removed these and also 3 other suspect moles. At the time I saw a young doc who gave me a horrible prognosis of 9-16% chance of survival. My world ended. Had the op, and it seems that they removed all the melanoma, the lymph node was clear and 2 of 3 moles were ok, 1 was "pre" melanoma. So results were all good, I get checked every 3 months but still have this big cloud hanging over my head, the docs all tell me that recurrance is very high in the stage that I had but dont really tell me much more than that. Every time I get a headache or ache or pain my mind is thinking all sorts of horrible things. My husand tells me that I need to try and think positive and I know I should but it really is easier said than done. What makes it harder is that we moved here from the UK nearly 3 yrs ago and it is tough being away from friends and family when something like this happens. I need the secret to positive thoughts!!! I wish there was an absolute cure to this awful disease - somany lives are ruined by it. Try and keep smiling everyone!! ... View more