Blood Tests…….

Maybe it is / maybe it isn't.

NED is about as good as it gets and I will be grateful for everyday that has that label, and anyway if it is too small to be detected it isn't causing too much trouble and maybe my immune system will mop it up ?

Got to throw the welcome mat out to " hope" as having hope as a travelling companion is what I need right now and beats the alternatives in an uncertain world.

Best wishes

Deb

Maybe it is / maybe it isn't.

NED is about as good as it gets and I will be grateful for everyday that has that label, and anyway if it is too small to be detected it isn't causing too much trouble and maybe my immune system will mop it up ?

Got to throw the welcome mat out to " hope" as having hope as a travelling companion is what I need right now and beats the alternatives in an uncertain world.

Best wishes

Deb

Maybe it is / maybe it isn't.

NED is about as good as it gets and I will be grateful for everyday that has that label, and anyway if it is too small to be detected it isn't causing too much trouble and maybe my immune system will mop it up ?

Got to throw the welcome mat out to " hope" as having hope as a travelling companion is what I need right now and beats the alternatives in an uncertain world.

Best wishes

Deb

From my personal experience, blood work is difficult to put much stock in. Yet again, like everything else with melanoma, we find differences with each individual. In the nastiest throws of my melanoma, my oncologist looked at me on more than one occasion, and proclaimed "My God… you're like a machine." My labs were always a lovely line of "in range". Over three years later, with only one teeny speck of an already treated brain lesion left anywhere in my body (basically NED)…. my blood labs aren't so perfect every three weeks. After dealing with this diagnosis for so long now, we've learned not to panic until a trend lasts for several tests. There is most certainly cautious watching, and without being a hypochondriac, paying attention for any physical symptoms that might indicate what the blood test was hinting at. While watching the labs is useful and handy, my docs always default to how I am looking and how I am feeling.

You're correct, it does seem an impossible question. Most days, I wake up and live as though my world is a perfectly normal place. The melanoma isn't going to worry me until I have hard visual proof that there is something to worry about. With every passing day, we grow steps closer to new research and new possibilities. I hope that I will never need them….. but if/when the time comes… I will hang my hat on the new hope. If I had been told 3 1/2 year ago, what I would have to go through to come out the other side, I might have curled up into a ball and surrendered. But hey… looking back and taking it one bite at a time… here I still am.   Hang onto hope, it's your ticket off of the crazy train.

From my personal experience, blood work is difficult to put much stock in. Yet again, like everything else with melanoma, we find differences with each individual. In the nastiest throws of my melanoma, my oncologist looked at me on more than one occasion, and proclaimed "My God… you're like a machine." My labs were always a lovely line of "in range". Over three years later, with only one teeny speck of an already treated brain lesion left anywhere in my body (basically NED)…. my blood labs aren't so perfect every three weeks. After dealing with this diagnosis for so long now, we've learned not to panic until a trend lasts for several tests. There is most certainly cautious watching, and without being a hypochondriac, paying attention for any physical symptoms that might indicate what the blood test was hinting at. While watching the labs is useful and handy, my docs always default to how I am looking and how I am feeling.

You're correct, it does seem an impossible question. Most days, I wake up and live as though my world is a perfectly normal place. The melanoma isn't going to worry me until I have hard visual proof that there is something to worry about. With every passing day, we grow steps closer to new research and new possibilities. I hope that I will never need them….. but if/when the time comes… I will hang my hat on the new hope. If I had been told 3 1/2 year ago, what I would have to go through to come out the other side, I might have curled up into a ball and surrendered. But hey… looking back and taking it one bite at a time… here I still am.   Hang onto hope, it's your ticket off of the crazy train.

From my personal experience, blood work is difficult to put much stock in. Yet again, like everything else with melanoma, we find differences with each individual. In the nastiest throws of my melanoma, my oncologist looked at me on more than one occasion, and proclaimed "My God… you're like a machine." My labs were always a lovely line of "in range". Over three years later, with only one teeny speck of an already treated brain lesion left anywhere in my body (basically NED)…. my blood labs aren't so perfect every three weeks. After dealing with this diagnosis for so long now, we've learned not to panic until a trend lasts for several tests. There is most certainly cautious watching, and without being a hypochondriac, paying attention for any physical symptoms that might indicate what the blood test was hinting at. While watching the labs is useful and handy, my docs always default to how I am looking and how I am feeling.

You're correct, it does seem an impossible question. Most days, I wake up and live as though my world is a perfectly normal place. The melanoma isn't going to worry me until I have hard visual proof that there is something to worry about. With every passing day, we grow steps closer to new research and new possibilities. I hope that I will never need them….. but if/when the time comes… I will hang my hat on the new hope. If I had been told 3 1/2 year ago, what I would have to go through to come out the other side, I might have curled up into a ball and surrendered. But hey… looking back and taking it one bite at a time… here I still am.   Hang onto hope, it's your ticket off of the crazy train.

Unless a blood test is specifically run as a biomarker for cancer the results you are lookin at don't mean anything.

My Mom had perfect, and I mean perfect, blood tests when she was Stage IV with brain mets before any treatment. Nothing was elevated and she felt great, but she was a ticking time bomb… Melanoma wasn't playing havoc with anything that the blood tests were run for.

During treatment with ipi she had a few blood tests that were out of range, but that was years ago and temporary. Today she is back to excellent blood work and has a year to go on Keytruda.

Unless a blood test is specifically run as a biomarker for cancer the results you are lookin at don't mean anything.

My Mom had perfect, and I mean perfect, blood tests when she was Stage IV with brain mets before any treatment. Nothing was elevated and she felt great, but she was a ticking time bomb… Melanoma wasn't playing havoc with anything that the blood tests were run for.

During treatment with ipi she had a few blood tests that were out of range, but that was years ago and temporary. Today she is back to excellent blood work and has a year to go on Keytruda.

Unless a blood test is specifically run as a biomarker for cancer the results you are lookin at don't mean anything.

My Mom had perfect, and I mean perfect, blood tests when she was Stage IV with brain mets before any treatment. Nothing was elevated and she felt great, but she was a ticking time bomb… Melanoma wasn't playing havoc with anything that the blood tests were run for.

During treatment with ipi she had a few blood tests that were out of range, but that was years ago and temporary. Today she is back to excellent blood work and has a year to go on Keytruda.