About a week and a half ago I finally saw my doctor for a mole on my left arm that had changed color for darker, since …. I don‘t remember, maybe a year ago. She took some pictures and sent them to a dermatologist. Later that day she contacted me that the dermatologist wanted to see me, and the latter actually called me a bit later to make an appointment. I got one on  Wednesday last week. Note, that in France the only way to get a dermatologist appointment is with the physician directly — all the appointments through any booking system (like Doctolib) are taken until November this year.

So, on Wednesday last week, she made a little incision in my left arm to cut the mole off (requiring seven stitches), and sent it for analysis. This morning she (the dermatologist) tried to call me several times — I was on my morning run, then taking a shower, etc. so I missed them all. Finally she reached me and asked if I could go to see her for the results after 11am. That was not possible since we had another appointment at home at 11am. Then she asked if I could make it by 10am which was 30 minutes away (it takes about 30 minutes to reach there, if you walk really fast, but I made it) — that was one hectic and sporty morning!

Anyway, the results of the analysis is a form of melanoma, superficial with thickness of 0.25mm, which she had successfully removed. Still she arranged me a consultation appointment with a surgeon for next Tuesday, who will make another incision to remove some more skin around the wound. I will arrange that operation with the surgeon. Then in the future I will have bi-annual controls with the dermatologists for three years, and then annual controls for the rest of my life.

I had to admit, that was very efficient work for my own doctor and the dermatologist! Sometimes I really love the French health care system.