My story is almost identical to yours. I had a swollen lymph node in my groin that was suspicious and we eventually made the decision to excise it in September 2016. PET scan was clear. I consulted with Vanderbilt and my local doctors and the advice was that surgery is still the most sure treatment of melanoma. After much research and discussion, I had a lymph node dissection about 6 weeks later, but only the lymph nodes in that area. In my case, there were 6 lymph nodes removed and all were negative. In my mind, if it was in the lymph nodes, I just reduced the risk of further spreading, and if they were clear, then I had some good news. I was very lucky in that my initial surgeon referred me to a robotic surgeon so the incision is minimal. I highly recommend you consult with either a robotic surgeon or laproscopic surgeon to avoid the long incision and trauma of traditional surgery. Even so, it will slow you down to a crawl for a few weeks, but still very manageable. Let me know if you have any questions.
Best of luck!!
