My journey started on Jan 4th 2010 when I went to the dentist for a check up, something I hadnt done for a few years. She asked me if I was a smoker which I answered No and I have never smoked in my life... with that she said that I should go to my GP. I asked why and she said "you have a black mark on the roof of you mouth" and showed me with a mirror. It looked horrible.
 

On this day the specialist thought the mark was a amalgam tatoo.... (leaching of a filling into the palate). nothing serious but decided a biopsy would give us a definate answer.. wow was that painful but had to be done. Now i had to wait for the results. Finally on Feb 23rd I had the results given to me....why had they taken so long, well because they couldnt believe what they found and a second pathology test was done.....

The result was suspicious malignant melanoma..... couldnt believe my ears..... what are you saying melanoma only accurs on the skin. The pathologist wanted more sample to test so on March 10th I went to surgery to have 4.5cm by 3.5cm of the roof of my mouth removed. I have to wear a plate to protect it, as it was taken back to bone. Back for a follow up appointment on 18th March to have the plate unwired and got the results from Pathology.... confirmed malignant melanoma...... my world came crumbling down.... (my first natural grand daughter was born on Feb 4th and I didnt know if I would see her grow up)

The rest of the bad news was clusters of bad cells were found near the edge of the specimum and a clear margin was needed therefore a second surgery was scheduled for April 7th..... to remove a ring about 7mm around the first area.

7th april.... went to the hospital to check in... and had lost 11kgs in four weeks (not the best way to loose weight), but all went according to plan and my surgeon was please with what he had done.. so the waiting game was played again. Has the plate unwired on april 12th no results yet back again another appointment on 16th, results no clear margin.... well i lost it completely that time..... didnt know if I could do it again. A third surgery was booked for April 21st, to take what was left of the roof of my mouth down the left hand side (the right hand side was clear), to right up to my teeth.

Finally April 29th results were in again and even though it is not totally clear there is not cluster of cells there is two cells present in the specimum. No more operations for now.

during this time my specialist who has never seen a palatial melanoma before was in touch with a professor in America who has seen this rare thing, I was fortunate to have him in touch with other professors as well to guide him along.. Also the head of the pathology was the only one to do the testing of all my specimums.

I dont know if anyone else has heard of this or even had this but I believe that we all should be aware that melanoma can accur anywhere.... not just on the outside skin.