On 12/12/2006 Juliann wrote:
My father had skin melanoma on his chest approximately 4 years ago. He had sentinel lymph node biopsy performed and it was clear. He has seen his family physician every 3 to 6 months since then but no additional testing was done. Approximately 4 weeks ago, I started noticing a slight delay in my father's speech when reading out loud. We requested an MRI to determine if he had a mini stroke. They immediately called him to the hospital and scanned his body. He has three tumors in his frontal lobe, nodules in his lungs, liver and adrenal glands. Besides the recent change in his mental status, dad is in perfect health. Blood work, liver function, and other testing looks great. They biopsied his liver but reported they did not get a good tissue sample or there was no cancer cells in the biopsy. No additional biopsies were performed. He stayed in the hospital for 3 days and was started on steriod treatment. He has had 3 weeks of radiation and they are now decreasing the steriod. He is scheduled to start Chemotherapy next week. He will be taking Temador by mouth for 5 days and then repeat in 28 days. I live 500 miles from my parents and have had difficulty getting information about his condition and treatment. He has seen the onocologist once and is not sceduled for a follow-up appointment for another 6 weeks. He briefly speaks with the radiologist at the cancer center every Friday but little information has been discussed with my mother. My initial reaction was o.k. lets find out what we are up against and start making plans for treatment. My understanding from online research is that a typical prognosis is 3 to 6 months for metastatic melanoma, yet the physicians seem to be working in a slow motion. Does anyone have information about successful treatments being offered, nutritional / supplemental information, or similar stories about this type of cancer? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
My mother who recently passed away had mucosal melanoma which is different from skin melanoma but because there wasn't wasn't much treatment for mucosal (because of its rarity), they had given her skin melanoma treatment. If the cancer has already metasticized in your father, then I wouldn't be surprised if they try to do immunotherapy with your dad. If the standard chemo (Temador, Taxol) doesn't work then the docs might try to give him something that will try to get his immune system to attack the cancer. There are interferon shots and high dose interleukin-2 that they could dispense to try to get his immune system up. There's less nausea with immunotherapy but because the immune system is being instigated, the side effects are similar to having a flu: alot of fatigue, possible fever, chills. That stuff didn't work for my mom too well because mucosal was way different than skin melanoma but every thing I read said that the interferon and interleukin treatments had moderate results with skin based melanoma. depending on the stage of your dad's cancer, the dana farber clinic has a melanoma vaccine available. not sure of its effectiveness. Also alot of the Boston cancer centers and MD anderson out in texas were doing CTLA4 clinical trials (another immunotherapy) for melanoma. my mother never made it around long enough to make it to MD Anderson but I know they are tops in melanoma research and treatment. The Dana Farber and Beth Israel Deaconess up in Boston here are very good for melanoma treatments.
Anyway just thought I'd try to help with all the stuff I had learned this past year during my mom's ordeal. I wish you and your dad the best of luck.
my only advice to you is to try to stay positive no matter what and to cherish every moment you have with your dad.
Regards,
Ryan