› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Just got my SLNB results…
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stars.
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- June 3, 2016 at 7:37 pm
I went in to surgery with a melanoma on my scalp that per punch biopsy was 0.8 in depth with a mitotic rate of 1. The surgery sucked. They had to make a skin flap on my scalp so I have a giant incision on my head. I had 50 staples removed from it yesterday, but it is healing well. The sentinel nodes were behind both ears.
Today I went to my surgical oncologist and she told me the results. When they removed the entire melanoma spot, they found it was Clark level IV, and breslow thickness 1.5. Which surprised me. Does it happen a lot that the melanoma ends up being a lot thicker than the biopsy shows? Also, one out of 8 of my sentinel nodes tested positive for melanoma cells. One little mfer. I have two scans next week. Brain MRI and full PET scan. And then another surgery to take out more of the nodes from that area on the left side of my neck. My surgical onco also told me she would be referring me to s medical oncologist to talk about immunotherapy treatment. Which I know nothing about. Anyone with experience that could give me a little about what this consists of? My main issue is whether I will be able to work while doing the treatment . I am running out of FMLA!
As far as bad scenarios that could of happened today, I don't consider this the worst. But I wanted to be done dealing with this! Next step I guess is to hope for clear scans!
Thank you for listening I guess. I just wanted to talk to some people about this who understand the terminology.
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- June 3, 2016 at 8:22 pm
I was in the same boat as you almost 3 years ago but mine was on my leg. My sentinel was also positive. I did the node removal and also did a year and a half of 3 mg ipi. It wasn’t that bad and I’ve had a few scares since then but nothing has came back cancer yet. There are a lot more options today then when I started 3 years ago. Some of these drugs are making people Ned. I was really scared about trying ipi because of the possible side effects but I had fatigue the day of the infusion and very itchy skin and that was it. My labs were usually all OK. Take it one day at a time and keep plugging along. This I Scary but you can do it -
- June 3, 2016 at 8:22 pm
I was in the same boat as you almost 3 years ago but mine was on my leg. My sentinel was also positive. I did the node removal and also did a year and a half of 3 mg ipi. It wasn’t that bad and I’ve had a few scares since then but nothing has came back cancer yet. There are a lot more options today then when I started 3 years ago. Some of these drugs are making people Ned. I was really scared about trying ipi because of the possible side effects but I had fatigue the day of the infusion and very itchy skin and that was it. My labs were usually all OK. Take it one day at a time and keep plugging along. This I Scary but you can do it -
- June 3, 2016 at 8:22 pm
I was in the same boat as you almost 3 years ago but mine was on my leg. My sentinel was also positive. I did the node removal and also did a year and a half of 3 mg ipi. It wasn’t that bad and I’ve had a few scares since then but nothing has came back cancer yet. There are a lot more options today then when I started 3 years ago. Some of these drugs are making people Ned. I was really scared about trying ipi because of the possible side effects but I had fatigue the day of the infusion and very itchy skin and that was it. My labs were usually all OK. Take it one day at a time and keep plugging along. This I Scary but you can do it -
- June 3, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Hi Aj,
You have come to the right place. Here you can find support, and first-hand information without the nonsense you will find in random internet searches. When I was first diagnosed, I knew nothing about melanoma. Finding this site, helped me in a crash course of understanding. Right now, although its unfortunate the mel has spread to your lymph nodes, you are doing the right thing by being aggressive in treatment and will ultimately get your proper staging info, and BRAF status which will dictate treatment options. While I originally was treated by a medical oncologist, who was familiar with so-called standard of care, its important to seek out a melanoma specialist, preferably at a large, research-oriented institution. They are most familiar with all the treatment options that may be available. Sorry you have joined the club but this is a great place to hang out, if you have to.
Gary
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- June 3, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Hi Aj,
You have come to the right place. Here you can find support, and first-hand information without the nonsense you will find in random internet searches. When I was first diagnosed, I knew nothing about melanoma. Finding this site, helped me in a crash course of understanding. Right now, although its unfortunate the mel has spread to your lymph nodes, you are doing the right thing by being aggressive in treatment and will ultimately get your proper staging info, and BRAF status which will dictate treatment options. While I originally was treated by a medical oncologist, who was familiar with so-called standard of care, its important to seek out a melanoma specialist, preferably at a large, research-oriented institution. They are most familiar with all the treatment options that may be available. Sorry you have joined the club but this is a great place to hang out, if you have to.
Gary
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- June 3, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Hi Aj,
You have come to the right place. Here you can find support, and first-hand information without the nonsense you will find in random internet searches. When I was first diagnosed, I knew nothing about melanoma. Finding this site, helped me in a crash course of understanding. Right now, although its unfortunate the mel has spread to your lymph nodes, you are doing the right thing by being aggressive in treatment and will ultimately get your proper staging info, and BRAF status which will dictate treatment options. While I originally was treated by a medical oncologist, who was familiar with so-called standard of care, its important to seek out a melanoma specialist, preferably at a large, research-oriented institution. They are most familiar with all the treatment options that may be available. Sorry you have joined the club but this is a great place to hang out, if you have to.
Gary
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- June 4, 2016 at 10:29 am
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I guess the initial punch biopsy did not have clear margins, so went down to 0.8mm but not the full depth. It sounds like you are in good hands, everything is being thoroughly checked and they are already talking immunotherapy. This must be a crazy time but you sound like an optimist, a fighter, and that's a great quality to have. All the best!
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- June 4, 2016 at 10:29 am
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I guess the initial punch biopsy did not have clear margins, so went down to 0.8mm but not the full depth. It sounds like you are in good hands, everything is being thoroughly checked and they are already talking immunotherapy. This must be a crazy time but you sound like an optimist, a fighter, and that's a great quality to have. All the best!
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- June 4, 2016 at 10:29 am
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I guess the initial punch biopsy did not have clear margins, so went down to 0.8mm but not the full depth. It sounds like you are in good hands, everything is being thoroughly checked and they are already talking immunotherapy. This must be a crazy time but you sound like an optimist, a fighter, and that's a great quality to have. All the best!
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