New Growth?

Hello Ted,

No idea; I'm as new to this as you, but I saw you're in St. Paul, so I wanted to say hi, as we're close by.  I'll be starting treatment at Abbott Northwestern … tomorrow.  Hope yours goes well.

Warren

PS: I can totally relate to the hypersensitivity.  I've been feeling kind of low-level pin pricks all over on my body for a couple of weeks, which I was initially thinking was related to the melanoma, even though I know that doesn't make much sense.  Maybe mine has something to do with the surgury or various scans, but I think it's just anxiety.  Doesn't yours sound more like a rash, and isn't that one fo the treatment reactions?

Hi Ted,

The best thing to do is get it checked out. It may be nothing, but the experts should be the ones to tell you that. Ask your oncologist to look at it. In my case my dermatologist removed a small area on my chest that turned out to be abnormal squamous cells, and I thought it was no big deal. Better safe than sorry!

Best wishes,

Bill

Hi Ted, side effects of my husband's experiences with immunotherapy (Keytruda) have largely involved surface outbreaks — rashes on this skin, ulcers in his mouth — and nothing else. He's even had outbreaks of acne. I can imagine that sress might also produce the shingles reaction metioned above. Hope that gives you some comfort whiile waiting for a MD to diagnose. ~ Carol 

Hey Ted, 

First and foremost…I have no idea.  Second…and probably most important…talk to your doc.  Third…a story I don't know that I have ever shared here.  I started nivolumab (Opdivo) treatments in December of 2010…then…this happened:

Sunday, November 6, 2011
Anti-PD1 and crazy skin thing 9 zillion and 1….
Ever since my last infusion of anti-PD1 in September my skin has been flared up and irritable.  The granulomas on my thighs have remained red, hard, inflamed and itchy. Back and arms very itchy.  Bilateral inguinal nodes have remained constant (they used to come and go) with the one on the right measuring about 2cm and the largest on the left measuring about 1.5cm, followed with another of about 0.5cm, and a tiny one finishing out the trio. Vitiligo continues to increase. Just before our trip to California (10/4 or 5), during a very itchy flare on my back, I noticed a small circular patch of dry skin just below the scar from my initial lesion.  I completely forgot about it during our vacation.  But, when we returned (10/15), I was very surprised to feel a lump there. The documentation follows: 
10/15 – 8.1 X 5.5mm smooth, flesh colored, circular, domed lesion in the exact same location as the dry patch below my original excision scar.
10/17 – size unchanged, texture the same, color now = dark pink.
10/20 – lesion remains same color, size now 7 X 5.5mm.
10/21 – lesion now 5 X 5.5mm with a black scab covering 15% of the top edge.
10/22 – more of a scab has developed, size = 5X4mm.
10/23 – 5 X 3.5mm, with surface now dull and a greater area is covered with a scab.
10/25 – 5 X 2.5mm, lesion now mostly flat scab
10/26 – scab missing, flat pink macule is all that remains.
Today – Brent can find nothing more than a flat, ovoid, pink area.
So…what was all that business????  Brent was very worried.  At first he wanted me straight to derm to have it removed and analyzed.  Then, worried about being kicked off my trial, we decided to watch and wait.  Was it one of the lesions that Weber, Ruthie, Brent and the NP already observed…some inflammatory nodule often occurring before more vitiligo?  Was it a met…which I think is what Brent feels it was?  Melanoma mets can be black, or bluish, or pink, or red. I don't know.  It was truly weird and unlike the other lesions was very smooth, at least initially.  The others have been almost like a pimple or a bug bite for the first couple of days, rapidly turning brown and rough…but never with a black scab. Brent worries for this posting. But, perhaps, one day, such documentation will make a difference.  Anti-PD1 is new…and nobody is talking. Given how challenging the last infusion was, I can't say that I'm looking forward to my next trip to Tampa on Dec. 8th for infusion on the 9th…given, of course, that scans are clear on Dec 2. Then again…maybe it's still fighting off cooties and is the only reason I'm still here!

Now…the "granulomas to my thighs" were due to peptide vaccines that my trial cohort was given that did no good, probably caused harm, and have nothing to do with anything at this point.  However, I did have a very rapid growth of a lesion, as described above, that I cannot definitively explain…but my husband and I feel was a flare of "pseudoprogression" if you will, of a cutaneous melanoma lesion.  Can we explain it?  No!!  Do we know for sure?  NO!  It was tricky then, as I could have been kicked off the trial for "progression".  At any rate, it "dropped off" on its own.  

So…see your doc.  Hopefully, it is nothing more than inflammation.  Hang tough.  You new ratties are teaching us all.  celeste