CancerCompass message board discussion started by Cooper1 on 12/11/2006 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,8234,0.htm Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Had surgery- and Sentinal Node biopsy- no cancer cells in margins or in lymphnodes. now oncologists want me to get a PET scan to make sure no melanoma has spread anywhere else. He says I have an 85% chance that I was cured with surgery-but am STILL SCARED. Has this happened to anyone before? what treatment have you had? Please respond with any knowledge! AM going CRAZY worrying about it! Cooper1 Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT you are lucky to have caught it early.  You should be fine.  Take a deep breath !  Do you know the depth of the melanoma?  <4mm and observation is OK.  > 4 mm and Interferon is an option. Oncrx Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT What does interfuron do? What are the side effects? Do you lose your hair? Cooper1 Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT You are catching this early and that is the key! Keep up the good watch!My mom has had melanoma at the highest level for over 2 years. The treatements taken to this point have not impacted her quality of life at all.  At this stage you are working to watch for any more signs. You do this with dermotoologest check ups head to foot on a regular basis. Scans by your doctor to "see inside" if there is anything there. Keep the watch up and IF or WHEN something else is found, remember you have options for treatment.  The key is to keep up the watching steps and find anythign early so you have all the options of treatment avaialbe for you.  Best wishes on dealing with melanoma.  Lindymo Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/11/2006 Lindymo wrote:You are catching this early and that is the key! Keep up the good watch!My mom has had melanoma at the highest level for over 2 years. The treatements taken to this point have not impacted her quality of life at all.  At this stage you are working to watch for any more signs. You do this with dermotoologest check ups head to foot on a regular basis. Scans by your doctor to "see inside" if there is anything there. Keep the watch up and IF or WHEN something else is found, remember you have options for treatment.  The key is to keep up the watching steps and find anythign early so you have all the options of treatment avaialbe for you.  Best wishes on dealing with melanoma.  Thanks so MUCH for responding!!!! What stage melanoma is your mom's? What treatments has she had and what were her side affects???? Cooper1 Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT You do not loose your hair with interferon.The side effects are fever, chills, fatigue after a while you will have ametal taste in your mouth from the interferon.  Try adding sauces to meals such as hot sauce, bbq sauce, tangy sauces to help with the taste.  At the speciality drug stores there is mouth wash for this.   Dean in Georgia Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT Mom's was found at stage IV. It was in the lymp nodes when found as well. It has recently moved into the blood stream and she has spots on her right lung. She is now taking Temodar in pill form. Her next set of tests in Jan 4. Hopefully this will contain the melenoma. We will have to wait and see. This treatment so far has been very managable. We are wishing for the best for this treatment with her situation. Lindymo Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/11/2006 Cooper1 wrote:Had surgery- and Sentinal Node biopsy- no cancer cells in margins or in lymphnodes. now oncologists want me to get a PET scan to make sure no melanoma has spread anywhere else. He says I have an 85% chance that I was cured with surgery-but am STILL SCARED. Has this happened to anyone before? what treatment have you had? Please respond with any knowledge! AM going CRAZY worrying about it!If your lymph nodes have not been affected, that is a very positive sign that surgery went well.  my mother who recently passed away from her melanoma (mucosal, way rarer than skin melanoma and tougher to treat) had surgery but it had reached her lymph nodes.  stage 1 is very treatable so keep positive.  don't think about the immunotherapy (interferon, high dose interleukin-2) until it actually becomes necessary. Ryan   Rl2006 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT  On 12/11/2006 Cooper1 wrote:Had surgery- and Sentinal Node biopsy- no cancer cells in margins or in lymphnodes. now oncologists want me to get a PET scan to make sure no melanoma has spread anywhere else. He says I have an 85% chance that I was cured with surgery-but am STILL SCARED. Has this happened to anyone before? what treatment have you had? Please respond with any knowledge! AM going CRAZY worrying about it!My daughter had a sentinal node biopsy in 2004 and they stated that tested negative.  No further treatment was done, and we thankful that she was cured.  We were wrong and now know the melanoma can spread two ways, throught the lymph nodes and through the blood.  Well guess what, hers was spreading throught the blood for two years.  She now has mestatic melanoma and is very sick undergoing chemo and not getting better.  My suggestion is to get the PET scan and keep close contact with an Oncologist.  Good luck to you. Smurph226 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT Thanks to all of you who replied to my messages!! I just got back from meeting with my oncologist to go over my PET scan results and they came back clean!!! No sign on cancer anywhere!!!! I'm soooooooo relieved!So for the next 3 years I will be meeting with my dermatologists or oncologists every 3 months to keep an eye on everything. I am truely thankful to god and all my friends and family who prayed for me during this difficult time. I am truely blessed. Cooper1 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT Hi, I know how you feel... I am going though the same thing. I have Stage 1B melanoma, I went for surgery on my left leg and three lyphm nodes removed and the result came back was negative, that is a good news, but still worries me about in the future. I went for oncologist counselor and they said I have a good chance and take care of myself like go see dermologist and oncologist every 3 or 6 months and make sure to check ups often then it will be alright. What size of MM do you have?? I have no treatments... I pray that everything is going to be fine. TheresaG Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT Hi, I know how you feel... I am going though the same thing. I have Stage 1B melanoma, I went for surgery on my left leg and three lyphm nodes removed and the result came back was negative, that is a good news, but still worries me about in the future. I went for oncologist counselor and they said I have a good chance and take care of myself like go see dermologist and oncologist every 3 or 6 months and make sure to check ups often then it will be alright. What size of MM do you have?? I have no treatments... I pray that everything is going to be fine. TheresaG Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT