After reading the PET scan, my surgeon consulted with the oncologist and decided to move forward with the dissection (reduce tumor burden). The PET showed activity in the left arm pit but nothing else (regional) The surgeon was scheduled for vacation but came in to do the dissection as he said this was more important. So two weeks after the biopsy they went in Tuesday and removed the lymph nodes. I thought they would cherry pick the lymph nodes that lit up so I asked about margins. He said they will remove a section of lymph nodes and surroundng tissue and let the pathologist pick out the lymph nodes. He said margins don't apply here like in breast cancer. His analogy was taking out a slice of pizza and having the pathologist pick out the pepperoni. We met the next day for discharge and he said don't be surprised if there was extensive cancer in this region. In other words, some of the other nodes will most likely have cancer cells even though they did not lite up on the PET. I now meet with the oncologist in 10 days to decide the appropriate follow-up treatment. My BRAF was still being analyzed (over two week now).
I'm impressed with the communication between the surgeon and the oncologist (he is a melanoma specialist). It feels we are moving at lighting speed and I hope we are making the right decisions.
He said to expect some numbness in the arm in a week or so followed by some nerve pain as they try to repair themselves. Small price to pay if we can contain this beast.
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