› Forums › General Melanoma Community › 9 1/2 Years Later
- This topic has 27 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by Cathy M.
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- June 17, 2016 at 9:07 pm
Hi All,
I was very active on this board in the 2007 to about 2010 time frame. My husband, Joe, had a Stage IIA nodular melanoma (2.5mm, nonulcerated, high mitotic rate, though I don't remember the number at the moment) removed from his right earlobe in January 2007. He had no other treatment besides WLE/SLN. He also had a PET/CT scan for about the first two years. All has been well. We opted to stop the scans and move on. I have to admit I was obsessed with melanoma research for a couple of years. About drove myself bonkers (and I'm sure my husband too)! But, I did feel I was very well informed if he had needed to make treatment decisions in those years.
Anyway, I've been out of the melanoma loop for a lot of years. About two weeks ago, Joe started having pretty severe pain in his left jaw area. He's had two tooth abscesses/root canals before, but he said this didn't feel like those did. He saw the dentist on Wednesday. She did bite wing xrays on that side and an exam and said she didn't find anything that would lead her to believe he had an abscess or anything along those lines. She referred him to an endodontist. He saw him yesterday. He also couldn't find anything and suggested a referrel to a periodontist. This is all fine, and we're hoping it is something dental though he has no evidence at all of gum disease. Endodontist gave him a Rx for amoxicillin (in case there's some kind of infection that's not readily evident) and 800 mg ibuprofen, which has helped with pain management since yesterday.
The pain has been up and down, at times very severe. So while pursuing the dental options, I thought it might be a good idea to get our family doctor involved. She thought with his history and with the dentist and endodontist not finding anything, it would be a good idea to get a head CT scan. That will happen on Wednesday afternoon.
So, here we are. I needed someone to vent to who would understand how hard the waiting is. Janner, if you're still here on this board, something you said all those years ago has really stuck with me. That was, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." I've thought back to that quote many times over the years. I shared it with my husband a few days ago, so I'm hoping he's looking for horses too!
Will let you know what happens. Thanks for listening. Niki
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- June 18, 2016 at 1:52 am
I thought it was "Look for the most likely explanation first, then look for zebras." 🙂
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- June 18, 2016 at 5:18 am
Just a thought… it's not heart-related is it? It might be referred pain from somewhere else in the body (e.g., heart problems can cause jaw ache).
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- June 18, 2016 at 1:39 pm
Smart move getting the family doc on board…better yet the doc ordered the CT. Good luck Wednesday !!-
- June 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Just received Joe's CBC results. Slightly low RBC, Hemaglobin, and Hematocrit. He had low blood counts a year ago as well. Ferritin is normal so it's not an iron deficiency anemia. I didn't think too much of it a year ago because the doc didn't either. But with the jaw bone pain issue now and low blood counts still, it's a little concerning. Probably time to investigate what's causing the low blood counts.
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- June 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Just received Joe's CBC results. Slightly low RBC, Hemaglobin, and Hematocrit. He had low blood counts a year ago as well. Ferritin is normal so it's not an iron deficiency anemia. I didn't think too much of it a year ago because the doc didn't either. But with the jaw bone pain issue now and low blood counts still, it's a little concerning. Probably time to investigate what's causing the low blood counts.
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- June 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Just received Joe's CBC results. Slightly low RBC, Hemaglobin, and Hematocrit. He had low blood counts a year ago as well. Ferritin is normal so it's not an iron deficiency anemia. I didn't think too much of it a year ago because the doc didn't either. But with the jaw bone pain issue now and low blood counts still, it's a little concerning. Probably time to investigate what's causing the low blood counts.
Tagged: cutaneous melanoma
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