jonsie_57

Hi Trisha,

I am so sorry to hear about your dad.  My husband is also battling a recurrence of melanoma.  The first episode was in March 2010 when he had a tumor taken off of his neck (really deep but I forget the actual measurements).  At that time the sentinel node biopsy came back clear and the pet scan came back  clear also.

In April of 2011 he developed a hoarse throat and what we thought was the respiratory stuff going around at the time.  Chest exrays showed five tumors in his lungs and multiple tumors in his chest area.

Has your fathers oncologist mentioned trying your dad on yervoy or testing him for the braf600 mutation gene for the new treatment , zelobraf, that is given by pill?  My husband tested negative for the braf gene but took four treatments of yervoy and his latest ct scan only showed two tumors in his lungs that are less than a cm each and nothing else in the chest.  He has another scan  in November to see if that one showed correctly

I certainly know some of what you are going through and I wish the best for you and your dad. 

Kay

Hi Trisha,

I am so sorry to hear about your dad.  My husband is also battling a recurrence of melanoma.  The first episode was in March 2010 when he had a tumor taken off of his neck (really deep but I forget the actual measurements).  At that time the sentinel node biopsy came back clear and the pet scan came back  clear also.

In April of 2011 he developed a hoarse throat and what we thought was the respiratory stuff going around at the time.  Chest exrays showed five tumors in his lungs and multiple tumors in his chest area.

Has your fathers oncologist mentioned trying your dad on yervoy or testing him for the braf600 mutation gene for the new treatment , zelobraf, that is given by pill?  My husband tested negative for the braf gene but took four treatments of yervoy and his latest ct scan only showed two tumors in his lungs that are less than a cm each and nothing else in the chest.  He has another scan  in November to see if that one showed correctly

I certainly know some of what you are going through and I wish the best for you and your dad. 

Kay

My husband finished four treatments of yervoy on July 20, 2011 with very few side effects during treatment.  He has had more side effects since he finished treatments such as tiredness and vomiting. His oncologist says it is too far out to still be having side effects from the drug but he the first patient she ever administered yervoy to.  while he was on treatment the worse side effect he had was a rash that was treated with prednisone.

He had a ct scan Sept. 7, 2011 and it only showed two tumors (there was five large ones) in his lungs that are smaller than a cm each and the scan did not show the other ones in the chest cavity.  Wish it hadn't showed any at all but we are thankful for what it did do.

He still gets really tired and short winded even though the tumors are shrinking and disappearing.  Does anyone have any insight on this?

Kay

My husband finished four treatments of yervoy on July 20, 2011 with very few side effects during treatment.  He has had more side effects since he finished treatments such as tiredness and vomiting. His oncologist says it is too far out to still be having side effects from the drug but he the first patient she ever administered yervoy to.  while he was on treatment the worse side effect he had was a rash that was treated with prednisone.

He had a ct scan Sept. 7, 2011 and it only showed two tumors (there was five large ones) in his lungs that are smaller than a cm each and the scan did not show the other ones in the chest cavity.  Wish it hadn't showed any at all but we are thankful for what it did do.

He still gets really tired and short winded even though the tumors are shrinking and disappearing.  Does anyone have any insight on this?

Kay