Hi all,
Just passing along some positive news. We got my husband's scan results at MD Anderson yesterday and still No Evidence of Disease. We have done the wait and watch since his surgery 2 years ago. He was initially thought to be Stage 4 nodular metastatic melanoma (scary words to hear) since his Breslow depth was 19 mm (I'm not missing a decimal point 🙂 ) and there was no overlying epidermal component. He does have the NRAS mutation. I still remember getting his initial pathology back and seeing that everything he had (breslow depth, Clark level, mitotic rate, etc) was at the highest end of the spectrum and I would research and he had every indicator of immediate negative outcomes. Our doctor here knows us as the couple who argues (we argue all the time at the doctors since I'm a researcher and my husband sees no point in researching, he is a "it is what it is" kind of guy). It's hard to believe we are two years out. As I was waiting on the 9th floor where the Melanoma wing is located, I always look around and think that maybe one of the MPIP bulletin board members is waiting too. It's sobering to see all the people in the waiting room and hoping they are responding to treatment. And of course, my thoughts drifted to Artie sitting in the same spot just several months before and it hurts the heart. I just wish good stuff for everyone. I'm going to lay off the research for a little bit, since our doctor told us that any adjuvant treatment and vaccine trials are not an option (too far out from original surgery and they would not risk the side effects at this point with NED) so we are in wait and watch path for the foreseable future. We have a 7 yr old and now we have been approved for adoption so hopefully more good stuff to follow.
Cheers,
Jackie
.
