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Advice Needed

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  • Post
    • October 29, 2019 at 5:09 pm
    klalfaro26
    Participant
      Hello. My name is Kristi. I was diagnosed in early 2016. Stage 4 right off the bat. I did Ipi/Nivo. Complete response but it returned later back,in my lungs. We then tried Keytruda which again gave me a complete response but had to stop after 7 doses due to being diagnosed with Lupus and having severe joint pain. I then did scans every 3 months and then eventually every 6 months. Since then everything had been fine up until a month ago. I should probably mention that my birth control didn’t do its job as I found out I was pregnant in August. I’m currently 15 weeks.
      Anyways, I started having pain in my back left side just under my lower rib about a month ago. Thought it was nothing for a couple weeks until I was laying in bed and I felt a very hard lump in that same area. Obviously panicked I called my oncologist who then sent me for an ultrasound. The report he got back said there was only a small suspicion of it being cancer. Basically it wasn’t even an answer at all. So then he said we’ll get back to you after I talk to the radiologist to see what else they can do given that I’m pregnant so scans aren’t an option. A week later I finally get a response back and he said we’ll wait it out and to let him know if the pain gets worse.
      I’m beyond frustrated and my anxiety is at an all time high and I don’t know what to do. Do i really just ignore it and cross my fingers and hope for the best? Or do I push to get more answers? I was kinda hoping they would do a biopsy because I know that is safe during pregnancy. I just feel like I need a better answer than what they gave me. Yesterday I noticed a feeling that that lump is pushing into my ribs when I was sitting on the couch. So that is new. This all has made it hard to sit or even ride in a vehicle. Its better when I just lay flat. I just don’t know to do. But I feel like I would be a bad mother if I just sit on this and wait knowing that I could potentially be letting cancer just spread throughout my body like it did before. I’m scared because this lump mimics exactly like the one I had on my shoulderblade when I was first diagnosed. I felt pain and then I felt a hard lump. A dull ache pain just like that one.

      What do you all think I should do? I feel like I’m being pushed to the side because I’m pregnant and they know they can’t use the treatments on me. Do i push harder for an actual answer? Or do I just hope for the best?

      Just thought I would also mention that no one has even felt this lump for themselves or ran bloodwork.

      Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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    • Replies
        • October 29, 2019 at 7:02 pm
        doragsda
        Participant
          Is your oncologist a melanoma specialist? If not, I would find one right away. If he/she is, I would return and insist on having the lump biopsied. If that isn’t agreed to, I would find a new oncologist. Given your description of its location, it sounds like a fairly straightforward needle biopsy to determine what it really is.
            • October 29, 2019 at 7:02 pm
            doragsda
            Participant
              I intended to add that, with your history of stage 4 melanoma, waiting and watching does not seem to be an appropriate response to me.
            • October 29, 2019 at 8:09 pm
            Christiane29
            Participant
              Kristi, you have do get that lump biopsied. First, congratulations to your pregnancy. I became pregnant early 2018, half a year after my melanoma diagnosis and during active treatment. It wasn’t planned but we have been incredibly happy about it and now we have a beautiful daughter. Unfortunately, right after giving birth, it turned out, that melanoma had spread into my lungs. Did surgery and currently NED on Tafinlar/Mekinist. Melanoma can spread during pregnancy, BUT a lot of Doctors told me, there are most pregnancies of melanoma patients without any problems or recurrence. I don’t want to scare you but you should really really be pushing your onc to have that suspicious lump biopsied. From all my heart, I wish you a negative result and a wonderful pregnancy without further worries about that f…ing cancer.
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