Just Diagnosed w/ Melanoma In Situ

All,
I just signed up for this community because right now I am in a bit of shock. I was just diagnosed on Wednesday with Melanoma in situ, which I guess is the best-case scenario. At the advise of my father who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014, I have tried to limit my Google searches. Luckily my father is in remission, so even though he hasn't had melanoma, he has went through the shock of being diagnosed with cancer. He said that the biggest mistake that he made when he was first diagnosed was spending hours upon hours online reading and researching. At any rate, here is what I’ve went through the past few weeks…

My wife was worried about a spot on my upper thigh, and she wanted me to get it checked out. I told her not to worry about it because I’ve had it for as long as I remember. She said that she knew I had it, but she thought it looked different. I got into see a doctor the next day, which was May 26th (my doctor was out so I saw someone else). The doctor said she was very concerned about the spot, and that she thought it could be melanoma. She really wanted me to see a dermatologist because of the number of moles that I have on my back. The dermatologist in their building had a 3-4 month wait time, and she said it couldn’t wait that long so she could do it in 3 weeks which was her next available. Maybe this is standard procedure, but I don’t feel like a doctor should say that they fear you have melanoma, but you have to wait 3 weeks for the biopsy. As soon as I got home and spoke with my wife we both agreed that I needed to try to see someone sooner. I started calling around and I got lucky after a few calls as this dermatologist had an opening on May 30th. I went to my appointment and I REALLY liked this doctor. He spent a lot of time with me, and answered all of my questions. He did a screening of my body, and he agreed that the spot should have a biopsy along with one on my back. That said, he said he really didn’t thing the spot on my leg was melanoma. He told me that they would call me in 7-10 days with the results, and if all went well he would see me in a year for a follow up. Well, this past Wednesday the doctor called me and told me the one on my back was dysplastic nevi, and that he would like to do a wide excision just to be safe. He then told me that the spot on my leg was moderate melanoma in situ, and that I would also need to do a wide excision around that to get clear margins. He was very comforting, and stayed on the phone with me for well over 30 minutes. He knew how my wife pushed me to get it checked, and told me to give her a big hug because she likely saved my life (because I had no intentions of ever getting the spot checked out). My surgery is scheduled for June 20th, which I will be glad when that day is here.

So I am happy with this doctor and everything that he has done. I feel lucky that we caught it early, but my worrying is coming from the fact that he didn’t think the one on my leg was melanoma so what if he is wrong about one of the others? I have probably around 200+ moles on my back and chest alone. To his credit, he did have it biopsied. There are a few that I don’t like because one has gotten larger and darker over time, and then there is another that is a newer one that has an irregular shape. I discussed those with my dermatologist, but he wasn’t concerned about those. So I was wondering what you guys would do in my situation? I’ve read that there are non-invasive ways such as the woods lamp that allow for doctors to look for suspicious spots. I guess it’s not practical to test every mole on my body, but it would be nice if there is another way to confirm that there aren’t any other moles that need to be biopsied. I’ve also thought about going to another dermatologist just to get a second opinion and confirm that no other spots should be checked. I know my situation isn’t nearly as serious as most people on here, but has had a bit impact on me. I figured I was to young to have cancer (I'm 32), and figured since I didn’t tan it was very unlikely that I had skin cancer. Since I was diagnosed, I found out that my grandpa had melanoma before he had passed away from lung cancer, my uncle had it as well, and my cousin had melanoma in 2004, and in 2016 had basal and squamous cell cancer. Any advise on what I can do to ease my mind in respect to monitoring my moles, and ensuring the dermatologist didn’t miss anything would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
BD