On 1/26/2008
Hope4u wrote:
Hi,
There are many survivors out there. A great resource for anyone seeking information about melanoma is the melanoma patient's information page (MPIP) - more specific for melanoma. Is your brother working with a melanoma specialist (versus a general oncologist). That seems like an important step. My wife is stage recurrent metastatic melanoma. She did interlukein-2 and is currently on carbo/paclitaxel/avastin.
I know this may sound cliche, but don't give up hope and take things one day at a time. There are many success stories, although the road in front of your brother may be a long one.
Thank you so much. I'm so confused and there is so much information out there. When you say the MPIP, do you mean on this site? Tim is with Group Health, which is a mixed blessing. Lots of red tape, and some extremely poor case management, such as lost films, long delays, and multiple Doctors. He was immediately referred to the University of Washington for the interlukein treatment when a routine xray of his lungs showed possible cancer, but when he met with the team, they had just received the results of his first lung biopsy from Virginia Mason (which took over a month), who provided the diagnosis that it wasn't melanoma. At that point, U of W had to step out since he was referred based on Tim having a recurrent melanoma. By the time Group Health scheduled the second biopsy (which also, according to Virginia Mason and or Group Health, came back inconclusive), the cancer had spread to his spine. He's been in such extreme pain that they decided to focus their treatment effort on radiating his spine. Meanwhile, we have no idea how widespread the cancer is. We know the odds, and they are extremely poor for Tim, but we are not going to give up. Tim is too sick now for the interlukein, and we need a miracle. Thank you so much for your kind words and quick response. I feel as if the clock is ticking at warp speed and that we are missing something that might save Tim. God bless you.
Shawn