AndrewB84

Hello, my name is Andrew. I was diagnosed with melanoma in July. Back in January, while sick with the flu, I found a lump on my upper thigh close to the inguinal lymph node. I thought it was just something from being sick and ignored it for 2 months. I finally got to the point where I was concerned enough to get it looked at by a someone at an urgent care clinic. From there they took a scan, sent me to Vanderbilt for a biopsy, took a CT scan, then recommended me to see a specialist, Dr. Schwartz. It was there that it was confirmed that the mass on my leg indeed was a malignant tumor. It was July 17th that I was told that I have some form of cancer, it was narrowed down to either a sarcoma of soft tissue or melanoma. After a couple of weeks (which is drives you crazy from not knowing), the results came back that it is melanoma. When I did the PET scan they found another growth in my abdomen by the mesenteric node. My doctor advised that we do immunotherapy, using the two drugs Opdivo and yervoy. I have gone through two rounds of those drugs. After my second treatment I was able to see a dramatic decrease in size of the tumor on my leg. Before my third round, during my lab screenings, my liver numbers (aspartate aminotransferase) had gone way up from what it’s supposed to be. I’ve been put on prednisone to help my liver get back to working right. I think I’ll need another ct scan after the steroids have been tapered off, but before I do my third round of treatment.