Stage 4 Melanoma What Meds Work ?????????

my husband has stage 4 melnoma has been on chemo for 7 months on paclitaxel,caroboplatin , and bay 43-9006 sorenib maybe he was on trail so not sure if was getting real drug or placebo. cheno worked fro 5 month slast two ct scans showed growth on the tumors  has two tumors on lymph nodes on groin and two nodes on  lungs  2mm and 7mm if anybody has stage 4 please let me know what medsworked for you or didnt work any info would be helpful  we have a 3 year old son and my husband would like to see him grow up my son lovs his father he knows daddy is sick and helps me take care of him my husband has handled his chemo very never lost a pound never vomited never nauesa nothing only pain in feet very bad please help me save him thank you very much

 

 

So sorry to hear about your husband's battle with melanoma. It's just a terrible and unpredicable monster. Unfortunately I don't have any advise, however, I did want to let you know that if you don't get many responses on this site to try posting on the Melanoma Patients' Information Page (www.mpip.org). I have found it very helpful and supportive.  Good luck and best wishes.

I was diagnosed with stage 1V melanoma in Jan 2006.  I was going to go on chemo like your husband, but got a second opinion and went the Interluken route in March. It didn't shrink any of the tumors.  In mid April the large tumor in my abdomen was ready to burst so I had surgery, removed the tumor 2 other lymph nodes near by, part of mycolon, spleen and apendex.  I also had lymph nodes removed under my arms in Jan, when I found out about the cancer.  I am so thankful for the surgery.  They never wanted to do surgery, just wanted to try other methods to shrink the cancer.  I have been cancer free so far.  Had a cat scan today so will know in 2 days the outcome.  Talk to your doctor about possible surgery. 

In Dec, I was diagonosed with vaginal melanoma. I immediately went to MD Anderson, Houston TX, where I was told that surgery was the best way to handle. The vaginal tumor was excised, along with 7 lymph nodes. I've had 2 surgeries and will start radiation next week to kill off any cancer cells that may be in my body. Next step is chemo that will pretty much continue to kill off cancer cells.

I would personally recommend no surgery as it will lower his immune system to fight off cancer cells unless the tumours can be all removed in one single surgery. My father had the similar treatment with chemo drugs and sorafenib and it worked without any side effects. The tumours have eventually grown back (unfortunately the doctor didn't recommend surgery to finish off small tumours located at the same site). We then tried interferon with sorafenib and it makes him become ill and lost of appetite. I'm now not able to find a clinical trial for him in US as he has been through several treatments which excludes him from eligibility. I hope a drug called Temsirolimus will be approved before June07. It is primarily for kidney cancer and i read it is also used to test on melanoma. If your patient has not had any vaccine therapy before, it may be worth joining a clinical trial like MDX-010 or other vaccine or peptide therapy. Unfortunately it didn't work for my father.  There are also promising drugs Avastin and Sutent but most oncologists may not mention them due to the high cost of medication. They may work in combination therapy. That's all i can say but as I have read, melanoma and kidney cancer are the toughest among all cancers which tumour often grows back even the drugs work initially. However, I still remain my faith that my father will go through this ordeal and create a miracle as there are things remained to be done. May luck be with you.