Survivorship Your life after a melanoma diagnosis may be different than before. “Survivorship” and “living with melanoma” are terms that have different meanings to different people, but to most, they mean living with, through and beyond a cancer diagnosis. Cancer survivorship begins at diagnosis and continues during treatment and through the rest of your life. For many people with melanoma, treatment can remove or destroy the cancer. And for others, the melanoma may never go away completely, which means regular treatment to try to keep the cancer under control for as long as possible. Learning to live with cancer that does not go away can be difficult and stressful. Survivorship plan Talk with your doctor about a survivorship care plan for you. This plan might include: l A schedule for follow-up tests and visits l A list of possible long-term side effects from your treatment, which may include what to watch for and when to contact your doctor l How to prevent future melanoma by protecting your skin and monthly self skin checks l Eating and exercise suggestions
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