Samroberts4

First of all, thanks so much for all of your mindful comments and support.  To update you on my condition, I have a 6 mm deep melanoma and am in stage IIb.  The mitotic rate was high, although I don't remember the exact figure because the doctor was hitting me with a barriage of negative information at a faster rate than I was able to absorb it. The margins were also wide.  Yesterday, the plastic surgeon cut out a large chunk from the side of my right bicep, which required him to graft a significant amount of skin from my right quadricep to patch the wound.  He also did a sentinel-node biopsy to see if the melonoma has reached the lymph nodes in my armpit.  I am on pins and needles waiting for the result, which will come tomorrow or Friday.  However, three things cause me to remain hopeful: a manual check by the doctor revealed no lumps or swelling under the armpit; the alkaline phosphatese test indcated normal levels; and the LDH were normal, meaning that cancer has proabably not spread to other organs.

I elected to go with a plastic surgeon because he worked primarily on melonoma for ten years when he was in New York and Philly.  When he was in upstate New York, he was the only doctor who worked on melanoma cases within a 60-mile radius, which comprised 60% of his cases.  I also live in Montana, where we aren't exactly close to melonoma specialists, and the doctor felt at the rate the tumor was growing, I needed to act fast.  I don't know if it's because melonoma comprises such a small amount of cancers, but when my doctor took a proactive approach to seek out oncologists who could treat melonoma in the event it is found in the lymph nodes, nobody in Missoula, MT. was comfortable treating it. My doctor said he contacted his friend from med school who lives in Kalispel, and he has quite a bit of experience in lymph-node dissection, which is a bridge I hope I don't have to cross.

I'll let you all know how things turn out in a couple of days. In the meantime, I will be taking percocet, tramadol, heaps of antibiotics, and sponge baths.  On the bright side, I'm glad that my arm is so heavily bandanged that I don't have to see the giant hole that I know is there. If you all have any thoughts on where I'm at, or what my next step should be in the event that the lymph nodes are involved, I look forward to reading them.

First of all, thanks so much for all of your mindful comments and support.  To update you on my condition, I have a 6 mm deep melanoma and am in stage IIb.  The mitotic rate was high, although I don't remember the exact figure because the doctor was hitting me with a barriage of negative information at a faster rate than I was able to absorb it. The margins were also wide.  Yesterday, the plastic surgeon cut out a large chunk from the side of my right bicep, which required him to graft a significant amount of skin from my right quadricep to patch the wound.  He also did a sentinel-node biopsy to see if the melonoma has reached the lymph nodes in my armpit.  I am on pins and needles waiting for the result, which will come tomorrow or Friday.  However, three things cause me to remain hopeful: a manual check by the doctor revealed no lumps or swelling under the armpit; the alkaline phosphatese test indcated normal levels; and the LDH were normal, meaning that cancer has proabably not spread to other organs.

I elected to go with a plastic surgeon because he worked primarily on melonoma for ten years when he was in New York and Philly.  When he was in upstate New York, he was the only doctor who worked on melanoma cases within a 60-mile radius, which comprised 60% of his cases.  I also live in Montana, where we aren't exactly close to melonoma specialists, and the doctor felt at the rate the tumor was growing, I needed to act fast.  I don't know if it's because melonoma comprises such a small amount of cancers, but when my doctor took a proactive approach to seek out oncologists who could treat melonoma in the event it is found in the lymph nodes, nobody in Missoula, MT. was comfortable treating it. My doctor said he contacted his friend from med school who lives in Kalispel, and he has quite a bit of experience in lymph-node dissection, which is a bridge I hope I don't have to cross.

I'll let you all know how things turn out in a couple of days. In the meantime, I will be taking percocet, tramadol, heaps of antibiotics, and sponge baths.  On the bright side, I'm glad that my arm is so heavily bandanged that I don't have to see the giant hole that I know is there. If you all have any thoughts on where I'm at, or what my next step should be in the event that the lymph nodes are involved, I look forward to reading them.

First of all, thanks so much for all of your mindful comments and support.  To update you on my condition, I have a 6 mm deep melanoma and am in stage IIb.  The mitotic rate was high, although I don't remember the exact figure because the doctor was hitting me with a barriage of negative information at a faster rate than I was able to absorb it. The margins were also wide.  Yesterday, the plastic surgeon cut out a large chunk from the side of my right bicep, which required him to graft a significant amount of skin from my right quadricep to patch the wound.  He also did a sentinel-node biopsy to see if the melonoma has reached the lymph nodes in my armpit.  I am on pins and needles waiting for the result, which will come tomorrow or Friday.  However, three things cause me to remain hopeful: a manual check by the doctor revealed no lumps or swelling under the armpit; the alkaline phosphatese test indcated normal levels; and the LDH were normal, meaning that cancer has proabably not spread to other organs.

I elected to go with a plastic surgeon because he worked primarily on melonoma for ten years when he was in New York and Philly.  When he was in upstate New York, he was the only doctor who worked on melanoma cases within a 60-mile radius, which comprised 60% of his cases.  I also live in Montana, where we aren't exactly close to melonoma specialists, and the doctor felt at the rate the tumor was growing, I needed to act fast.  I don't know if it's because melonoma comprises such a small amount of cancers, but when my doctor took a proactive approach to seek out oncologists who could treat melonoma in the event it is found in the lymph nodes, nobody in Missoula, MT. was comfortable treating it. My doctor said he contacted his friend from med school who lives in Kalispel, and he has quite a bit of experience in lymph-node dissection, which is a bridge I hope I don't have to cross.

I'll let you all know how things turn out in a couple of days. In the meantime, I will be taking percocet, tramadol, heaps of antibiotics, and sponge baths.  On the bright side, I'm glad that my arm is so heavily bandanged that I don't have to see the giant hole that I know is there. If you all have any thoughts on where I'm at, or what my next step should be in the event that the lymph nodes are involved, I look forward to reading them.

Thanks, Mark. To answer your question, my tumor was not ulcerated and was on the right  side of my arm where the bicep meets the tricep.  The doctor felt that the reason the tumor did not spread was due to the lack of ulceration.  I think you're right about the depth of skin in the heel aiding in the lack of spread, even if the tumor was not ulcerated, which was apprently the case with yours. 

I'm so happy that we were both able to get past this dreaded disease. Take care and stay NED forever!

Cheers,

Sam

Thanks, Mark. To answer your question, my tumor was not ulcerated and was on the right  side of my arm where the bicep meets the tricep.  The doctor felt that the reason the tumor did not spread was due to the lack of ulceration.  I think you're right about the depth of skin in the heel aiding in the lack of spread, even if the tumor was not ulcerated, which was apprently the case with yours. 

I'm so happy that we were both able to get past this dreaded disease. Take care and stay NED forever!

Cheers,

Sam

Thanks, Mark. To answer your question, my tumor was not ulcerated and was on the right  side of my arm where the bicep meets the tricep.  The doctor felt that the reason the tumor did not spread was due to the lack of ulceration.  I think you're right about the depth of skin in the heel aiding in the lack of spread, even if the tumor was not ulcerated, which was apprently the case with yours. 

I'm so happy that we were both able to get past this dreaded disease. Take care and stay NED forever!

Cheers,

Sam