› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Sentil Lymph Node Biopsy Results
- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 5 months ago by kb9718.
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- December 14, 2018 at 3:15 am
Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for the support on my last post. Im Keira the 22 year old who was waiting on her sentil lymph node biopsy and wide excision and just got them. The good news is it didnt spread to the left arm pit lympn node but the bad news it did unfourtnately spread to both the lymph nodes he removed on my right arm pit side. I am now having a PET scan next friday and waiting for a call from a specialist for treatment plan information. Feels very surreal and scary but staying postive and keep thinking life is all about your attitiude to what happens to you and Im trying really hard not to be sad about things I cannot change. Thanks everyone for reading this and hope everyone is doing well. He mentioned immunotherapy as a possible option for treatment if anyone has any experience with this.
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- December 14, 2018 at 3:57 am
Hi Keira, sorry to hear about the bad news, but glad there is some good as well. I had a WLE and SNLB last year. The latter showed localized spread to just two lymph nodes. With an estimated 15% chance of recurrence, I chose to watch and wait. Eight months later, I had a recurrence. In videos on Onc Live (a great source), you can watch brilliant, articulate oncs weighing the many considerations of adjuvant immunotherapy, pre-op and/or post-op. (Registration required to watch videos.) Wishing you good scan results. Keep us posted.
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- December 15, 2018 at 11:06 pm
Thank you very much for your response and I hope everything is going well with you. Im sorry to hear that it reoccured how are you doing now? I appericate the hope for good scan result and im hoping too, Thank you for reaching out and I wish you all the best,
Keira
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- December 14, 2018 at 2:43 pm
Sorry you are dealing with this, kb.
I think you are approaching this in good way….but melanoma still sucks great big green stinky hairy wizard balls, doesn't it?
Lots of folks on this board have utilized immunotherapy both as treatment for Stage IV melanoma as well as adjuvant (treatment for those who have had melanoma in their body, but have had it removed surgically or through radiaion) care as Stage III and IV patients.
Here is a primer on melanoma treatment that I put together (with a glossary of acronyms at the end) that you may find helpful:
Here are lots of articles on adjuvant treatments:
https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/search?q=adjuvant+immunotherapy
I am hoping the rest of your body will be clear…and that is likely. Still, immunotherapy works. I was diagnosed with a positive node (much like you) in 2003. Given there were no viable treatments at that time, I had no choice but to watch and wait. Given that….I did progress to Stage IV with melanoma in my brain and lung melanoma in 2010. BUT!!!!! After I had them zapped with radiation and removed surgicallly, making me NED, I was lucky enough to get in an immunotherapy trial with nivolumab (Opdivo) that same year. After 2 1/2 years of that treatment, with my last dose in 2013, I remain NED (having no evidence of disease) from melanoma!!! Proof that if it can work for a Stage IV patient, it can certainly work for those who are Stage III.
There are many on this board who have undertaken immunotherapy (and other adjuvant treatments) as Stage III patients. I am sure they will reach out. Hang in there. You can do this. Reach out as you need.
I wish you my best. Celeste
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- December 15, 2018 at 11:04 pm
Hi Celeste,
You're amazing the links you have provided epsically with the explanation of all the terms is awesome. For sure makes learning about everything alot easier. I am soo glad to hear your NED that gives me so much hope, I will for sure be posting my results and treatment plan but that is so great to hear I feel ten times better now.
Thank you so much and congratulations on your success
Keira
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- December 14, 2018 at 10:51 pm
Hi Kierra.
Im sorry you are going through this. My son also had a positive lymph node…which made him Stage 3a.
We are now 7 months into his 12 month immunotherapy adjuvant therapy. He is doing really well on Opdivo (Nivo). He goes every 2 weeks for his infusions and so far he has had very little side effects. He tolerates treatments very well, and we just had our 6 month scans and he is NED.
I could not imagine not doing the treatment….it was never an option for me. My son was only 17 when he was diagnosed and the benefits of the treatments outweighed the risks
I wish you the best of luck on your Petscan…once the doctors have your results they will be able to give you a plan for treatment. There is hope, try to remember that!!!!
Hang in there!!!
Kelly 🙂
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- December 15, 2018 at 10:58 pm
Hi Kelly,
Thank you very much for your response and I am so happy for you and your results. That is great to hear, so its 12 months long and you go in every two weeks? Is he still able to workout while undergoing treatment ? and congrats on the NED thats incredible !
Thanks
Keira 🙂
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