Hi Kate   I was also diagnosed with Melanoma at the start of the year.  I had a small biopsy which confirmed Melanoma then had to wait for surgery to get a final diagnosis and staging.  It was on the side of my head, so I had to see a plastic surgeon, so that was scary in itself!  The waiting was terrible, we have a young family and have had melanoma in my immediate family so I was familiar with this awful disease.  Its totally up to you to find out as little or as much as you feel appropriate.  I wanted to know everything, probably researched the internet to much.  But in the end its my specialists that I trusted to give me the information I needed. My melanoma was an early stage and since its been removed I'm just on regular checks.  Good luck with everything!  And  like you I didn't tell anybody except for family for a couple of weeks, but in the end I needed help from my friends so I let them know.  It was the best thing I did.   ... View more