Moffitt Cancer Center-worth it at this stage?

Moffit is probably worth it if you might ever consider doing clinical trials or you want the opinion at an institution who sees a lot of melanoma cases.  It would probably have the most to offer in that neck of the woods.  You might consider just scheduling an appointment for a second opinion – even if you feel you must start ipi now – to at least get into their system.  Chances are you'd get in faster in the future if you had already been seen.  I might consider calling and see when they could get  you in and consider waiting if it isn't too long out.  At least with the Interferon clinical trial, the data is based upon starting the trial with 53 (or 63?) days after surgery – not sure what the criteria was in the ipi clinical trial for adjuvant therapy.  Yervoy takes a long time to really get going and techinically, he is NED now so waiting a little extra time is actually feasible despite the 2 week window the doc gave you.  You do need to consider that certain treatments will disqualify you for other treatments in the future.  There's always this feeling of urgency to get started, but sometimes it is actually better to evaluate all options first – and Moffit would be a good place to do that. 

Moffit is probably worth it if you might ever consider doing clinical trials or you want the opinion at an institution who sees a lot of melanoma cases.  It would probably have the most to offer in that neck of the woods.  You might consider just scheduling an appointment for a second opinion – even if you feel you must start ipi now – to at least get into their system.  Chances are you'd get in faster in the future if you had already been seen.  I might consider calling and see when they could get  you in and consider waiting if it isn't too long out.  At least with the Interferon clinical trial, the data is based upon starting the trial with 53 (or 63?) days after surgery – not sure what the criteria was in the ipi clinical trial for adjuvant therapy.  Yervoy takes a long time to really get going and techinically, he is NED now so waiting a little extra time is actually feasible despite the 2 week window the doc gave you.  You do need to consider that certain treatments will disqualify you for other treatments in the future.  There's always this feeling of urgency to get started, but sometimes it is actually better to evaluate all options first – and Moffit would be a good place to do that. 

Moffit is probably worth it if you might ever consider doing clinical trials or you want the opinion at an institution who sees a lot of melanoma cases.  It would probably have the most to offer in that neck of the woods.  You might consider just scheduling an appointment for a second opinion – even if you feel you must start ipi now – to at least get into their system.  Chances are you'd get in faster in the future if you had already been seen.  I might consider calling and see when they could get  you in and consider waiting if it isn't too long out.  At least with the Interferon clinical trial, the data is based upon starting the trial with 53 (or 63?) days after surgery – not sure what the criteria was in the ipi clinical trial for adjuvant therapy.  Yervoy takes a long time to really get going and techinically, he is NED now so waiting a little extra time is actually feasible despite the 2 week window the doc gave you.  You do need to consider that certain treatments will disqualify you for other treatments in the future.  There's always this feeling of urgency to get started, but sometimes it is actually better to evaluate all options first – and Moffit would be a good place to do that. 

Hello I am new to the MRF forums. just noticed your post. My son is 3A also. He is 26 years old. We went to Moffitt in December. He actually got in very quickly. They recommended Interferon which surprised us (and also our surgeon). We were surprised since this therapy is known not to work by many leaders in melanoma and is falling out of favor. I next took my son to Mayo in Jacksonville after hearing about Dr. Richard Joseph there who is a well known melanoma specialist. I found him through my own research and reading, not an easy task. He recommended Yervoy. My son is currently undecided about it. To anyone out there: Are a lot of 3A patients going with Yervoy despite the dangerous side effects?

Hello I am new to the MRF forums. just noticed your post. My son is 3A also. He is 26 years old. We went to Moffitt in December. He actually got in very quickly. They recommended Interferon which surprised us (and also our surgeon). We were surprised since this therapy is known not to work by many leaders in melanoma and is falling out of favor. I next took my son to Mayo in Jacksonville after hearing about Dr. Richard Joseph there who is a well known melanoma specialist. I found him through my own research and reading, not an easy task. He recommended Yervoy. My son is currently undecided about it. To anyone out there: Are a lot of 3A patients going with Yervoy despite the dangerous side effects?

Hello I am new to the MRF forums. just noticed your post. My son is 3A also. He is 26 years old. We went to Moffitt in December. He actually got in very quickly. They recommended Interferon which surprised us (and also our surgeon). We were surprised since this therapy is known not to work by many leaders in melanoma and is falling out of favor. I next took my son to Mayo in Jacksonville after hearing about Dr. Richard Joseph there who is a well known melanoma specialist. I found him through my own research and reading, not an easy task. He recommended Yervoy. My son is currently undecided about it. To anyone out there: Are a lot of 3A patients going with Yervoy despite the dangerous side effects?