Arizona patients

Tina,

Thanks for your entry.  You'll find a lot of experience in the participants of this bulletin board. 

I am currently in treatment at the Angeles Clinc in Santa Monica (Los Angeles).  If you need a second opinion, I would highly recommend it.  The clinic has a number of clinical trials available, and the doctors (Dr. O'Day, Dr. Hamid) will take plenty of time meeting with you and doing testing to find what may be best.

Depending on where you are in Arizona, this would be about 350 miles from you, which is doable.  We commute from 250 miles, and generally a night or two in a hotel will cover our length of stay. 

Blessings,

Bob (in Visalia) 

Tina,

Thanks for your entry.  You'll find a lot of experience in the participants of this bulletin board. 

I am currently in treatment at the Angeles Clinc in Santa Monica (Los Angeles).  If you need a second opinion, I would highly recommend it.  The clinic has a number of clinical trials available, and the doctors (Dr. O'Day, Dr. Hamid) will take plenty of time meeting with you and doing testing to find what may be best.

Depending on where you are in Arizona, this would be about 350 miles from you, which is doable.  We commute from 250 miles, and generally a night or two in a hotel will cover our length of stay. 

Blessings,

Bob (in Visalia) 

Hi Tina,

I haven't been treated at any of the cancer centers, but I have gone down to Tucson (from Mesa/Gilbert) to consult with Dr. Evan Hersch (in 2002) and with Dr. Lee Cranmer (in 2009).  I see a medical oncologist in Scottsdale (Dr. Patrick Donovan) that does not specialize in melanoma, but he doesn't ever recommend treatment without a consultation from a specialist in Tucson.  Unfortunately, the doctors are in my medical network but the facility isn't, so they are great for a consultation but that's about it. (By the way, Dr. Cranmer told me that I'm not a good candidate for most of the trials going on now because I have other autoimmune diseases, but he did tell me that if I advance to Stage IV from Stage IIIb to come back and see him because there are "exciting things going on in advanced melanoma research".) 

From looking at their website, I didn't think that the Cancer Treatment Center of America treated melanoma in Arizona.  However, I just contacted them and discovered that they do, in fact. 

I worked at Mayo Clinic many years ago, shortly after the clinic opened in Scottsdale, and HATED working there.  I was treated there a few times after I quit for various things, and I wasn't terribly impressed with them.  They could never quite figure out what was wrong with me despite many, many expensive tests.  So, I personally wouldn't consider them for cancer treatment.

T-Gen seems to work with Scottsdale Healthcare.  My oncologist isn't all that great at hooking me up with cancer programs (I'm talking about things like nutrition, yoga, etc. that many cancer centers seem to provide along with actual treatment), so I sometimes consider looking for somebody else even though I've been seeing him for 8 years.  I'm kind of holding off until the new MD Anderson facility is built in Gilbert, though.  I'm very excited about MD Anderson coming to AZ, and it's close to my home as well! 

I'm curious to see if anybody else responds, and what they have to say!  If you would like to chat, you can email me at [email protected]. 

Vera (Stage IIIb)

Hi Tina,

I haven't been treated at any of the cancer centers, but I have gone down to Tucson (from Mesa/Gilbert) to consult with Dr. Evan Hersch (in 2002) and with Dr. Lee Cranmer (in 2009).  I see a medical oncologist in Scottsdale (Dr. Patrick Donovan) that does not specialize in melanoma, but he doesn't ever recommend treatment without a consultation from a specialist in Tucson.  Unfortunately, the doctors are in my medical network but the facility isn't, so they are great for a consultation but that's about it. (By the way, Dr. Cranmer told me that I'm not a good candidate for most of the trials going on now because I have other autoimmune diseases, but he did tell me that if I advance to Stage IV from Stage IIIb to come back and see him because there are "exciting things going on in advanced melanoma research".) 

From looking at their website, I didn't think that the Cancer Treatment Center of America treated melanoma in Arizona.  However, I just contacted them and discovered that they do, in fact. 

I worked at Mayo Clinic many years ago, shortly after the clinic opened in Scottsdale, and HATED working there.  I was treated there a few times after I quit for various things, and I wasn't terribly impressed with them.  They could never quite figure out what was wrong with me despite many, many expensive tests.  So, I personally wouldn't consider them for cancer treatment.

T-Gen seems to work with Scottsdale Healthcare.  My oncologist isn't all that great at hooking me up with cancer programs (I'm talking about things like nutrition, yoga, etc. that many cancer centers seem to provide along with actual treatment), so I sometimes consider looking for somebody else even though I've been seeing him for 8 years.  I'm kind of holding off until the new MD Anderson facility is built in Gilbert, though.  I'm very excited about MD Anderson coming to AZ, and it's close to my home as well! 

I'm curious to see if anybody else responds, and what they have to say!  If you would like to chat, you can email me at [email protected]. 

Vera (Stage IIIb)

By the way, I'm currently one year NED.

By the way, I'm currently one year NED.

Hi alleycat,

The MD Anderson clinic is supposed to open in Fall 2011 (not soon enough for me!).  It is slated to be their largest clinic outside of Houston.  I'm pretty excited about it!

Vera

Hi alleycat,

The MD Anderson clinic is supposed to open in Fall 2011 (not soon enough for me!).  It is slated to be their largest clinic outside of Houston.  I'm pretty excited about it!

Vera

Hi Tina,  I would recommend researching the trials that you are interested in, and then see where they are doing those trials in AZ.  My daughter was treated at Premiere Oncology in Scottsdale last Oct through May.  It was one of the only locations doing the GSK MEK inhibitor trial, so we traveled from CA to AZ.  I know that they are doing other targeted therapy trials there now.  Also T-Gen does some targeted therapies. 

Best,

Lauren (mom to Jenna)

Hi Tina,  I would recommend researching the trials that you are interested in, and then see where they are doing those trials in AZ.  My daughter was treated at Premiere Oncology in Scottsdale last Oct through May.  It was one of the only locations doing the GSK MEK inhibitor trial, so we traveled from CA to AZ.  I know that they are doing other targeted therapy trials there now.  Also T-Gen does some targeted therapies. 

Best,

Lauren (mom to Jenna)