Is anyone struggling with stage 3b?
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Is anyone struggling with stage 3b?

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Is anyone struggling with stage 3b?

  • Post
    • July 21, 2019 at 5:53 am
    CRE1960
    Participant
    Hello,
    My mother got diagnosed February 2018 with stage 3 melanoma. It began on her heel and traveled up to her inner thigh. She got a huge chunk of her heel removed and she got many lymph nodes on her inner thigh and upper leg removed through surgery. As she was recovering and all seemed okay, a scan showed there was some melanoma on her leg still. She underwent another surgery for that and shortly after began radiation therapy for her leg. After she finished that, she started immunotherapy. My mom was continuing her recovery and continuing her biweekly therapy sessions up until a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the melanoma came back on her heel and another scan showed it traveled to her abdomen area. Around the same time my mom started to notice pimple like marks on her leg spreading and growing. It wasn’t until her doctor did a biopsy and confirmed it was melanoma as well. She just got surgery on Thursday to remove the lymph nodes by her abdomen. Now we will wait 2 weeks until she heels so the doctor can set up a plan of care to target her heel and her leg. The concern is that her pimple like marks are growing more and more and it’s difficult to treat as they are under the skin and too small to appear on a scan.
    My mom got very unlucky as we thought everything seemed it was going well.
    I guess what I want is reassurance that there’s people out there who have been through this and survived. Is there anyone out there who had something so complicated as this? This is the scariest situation I’ve been in and I’m hopeful my mom will get through this. It’s just a very difficult and upsetting. I just need to hear other stories to feel stronger. It’s been a rough ride.
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  • Replies
      • July 23, 2019 at 12:15 am
      Lucas
      Participant
      I had melanoma on my heel also. I was initially staged 3b then moved to 3c because of recurrences on the skin of my heel and ankle. I had about 50 or more tiny black dots first in my skin graft than later all around it after the second resection. Also one subcutaneous lump on my ankle. I had radiation which cleared most of it than later tvec to finish the last 3 spots. I had also previously failed Keytruda and Opdivo. In the beginning of this year I progressed to stage 4 with 2 huge lumps in my groin. They were melanoma with more lymph nodes in different unseen areas. However I then went on Opdivo yervoy and was a complete responder. I’m about 6 months into the response, but 2 and a half years into treatment. I have been terrified many times, but have gotten through it with the grace of god. It is very possible to survive these days, but it can be difficult and takes time.
      • July 23, 2019 at 12:15 am
      Lucas
      Participant
      I had melanoma on my heel also. I was initially staged 3b then moved to 3c because of recurrences on the skin of my heel and ankle. I had about 50 or more tiny black dots first in my skin graft than later all around it after the second resection. Also one subcutaneous lump on my ankle. I had radiation which cleared most of it than later tvec to finish the last 3 spots. I had also previously failed Keytruda and Opdivo. In the beginning of this year I progressed to stage 4 with 2 huge lumps in my groin. They were melanoma with more lymph nodes in different unseen areas. However I then went on Opdivo yervoy and was a complete responder. I’m about 6 months into the response, but 2 and a half years into treatment. I have been terrified many times, but have gotten through it with the grace of god. It is very possible to survive these days, but it can be difficult and takes time.
        • July 28, 2019 at 5:39 pm
        CRE1960
        Participant
        Hello,
        Thank you for sharing your story. It’s such a difficult situation but I hope to God that everything goes well for you. I am praying for you and your recovery. You are right, it takes time. All we can do is remain positive and continue fighting. Thank you again for sharing.
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