Having my baby on Monday, just diagnosed stage 3A…WORRIED :(

Hi Kelly I'm so sorry for what you are going through. You should take a deep breath. Your situation is similar to that of my husband two years ago.

My husband was diagnosed in 2012 stage3a (Breslow 2.3 mole on ankle)  melanoma , because he had micrometastasis in the sentinel node , the rest (12)  were clean. He had in 2012, 38 years old. He started in October 2012 with high doses of pegylated interferon for two months and after that continuous average dose to date. He has TAC  every  6 months.  In the last tac the oncologic saw enlarged lymph so he  decided to do PET, and unfortunately is likely to return (melanoma) in some  lymph but this does not always happen. Please be positive stage 3A has a good prognosis with periodic checks and these last year’s many new drugs were discovered did not exist before.

Surely you would now extirpated other lymph to see if they have melanoma. The Pet or CT is also very important. Everything is to know where to get cancer and to make a plan of action.

Regarding your baby is not nothing about whether the melanoma is capable of being transferred, but if I read that melanoma may be formed by the hormonal changes in pregnancy ….

Although we could not have children after several years of trying in the same month as my husband  (he 38 years old , I 32 yers old) was diagnosed with melanoma also discovered him in CT a kidney cancer  and found out he was infertile, so they are living with melanoma and with fertility treatments. It's hard but we try to live a "normal"life.

It is normal that you feel fear, I also feel fear and at times I feel I can not live, but here in the forum there are very good people that will provide support and information.

you can ask all the questions you want.

Regards

Gaby (from Argentina)

Hi Kelly I'm so sorry for what you are going through. You should take a deep breath. Your situation is similar to that of my husband two years ago.

My husband was diagnosed in 2012 stage3a (Breslow 2.3 mole on ankle)  melanoma , because he had micrometastasis in the sentinel node , the rest (12)  were clean. He had in 2012, 38 years old. He started in October 2012 with high doses of pegylated interferon for two months and after that continuous average dose to date. He has TAC  every  6 months.  In the last tac the oncologic saw enlarged lymph so he  decided to do PET, and unfortunately is likely to return (melanoma) in some  lymph but this does not always happen. Please be positive stage 3A has a good prognosis with periodic checks and these last year’s many new drugs were discovered did not exist before.

Surely you would now extirpated other lymph to see if they have melanoma. The Pet or CT is also very important. Everything is to know where to get cancer and to make a plan of action.

Regarding your baby is not nothing about whether the melanoma is capable of being transferred, but if I read that melanoma may be formed by the hormonal changes in pregnancy ….

Although we could not have children after several years of trying in the same month as my husband  (he 38 years old , I 32 yers old) was diagnosed with melanoma also discovered him in CT a kidney cancer  and found out he was infertile, so they are living with melanoma and with fertility treatments. It's hard but we try to live a "normal"life.

It is normal that you feel fear, I also feel fear and at times I feel I can not live, but here in the forum there are very good people that will provide support and information.

you can ask all the questions you want.

Regards

Gaby (from Argentina)

Hi Kelly I'm so sorry for what you are going through. You should take a deep breath. Your situation is similar to that of my husband two years ago.

My husband was diagnosed in 2012 stage3a (Breslow 2.3 mole on ankle)  melanoma , because he had micrometastasis in the sentinel node , the rest (12)  were clean. He had in 2012, 38 years old. He started in October 2012 with high doses of pegylated interferon for two months and after that continuous average dose to date. He has TAC  every  6 months.  In the last tac the oncologic saw enlarged lymph so he  decided to do PET, and unfortunately is likely to return (melanoma) in some  lymph but this does not always happen. Please be positive stage 3A has a good prognosis with periodic checks and these last year’s many new drugs were discovered did not exist before.

Surely you would now extirpated other lymph to see if they have melanoma. The Pet or CT is also very important. Everything is to know where to get cancer and to make a plan of action.

Regarding your baby is not nothing about whether the melanoma is capable of being transferred, but if I read that melanoma may be formed by the hormonal changes in pregnancy ….

Although we could not have children after several years of trying in the same month as my husband  (he 38 years old , I 32 yers old) was diagnosed with melanoma also discovered him in CT a kidney cancer  and found out he was infertile, so they are living with melanoma and with fertility treatments. It's hard but we try to live a "normal"life.

It is normal that you feel fear, I also feel fear and at times I feel I can not live, but here in the forum there are very good people that will provide support and information.

you can ask all the questions you want.

Regards

Gaby (from Argentina)

Hi Kelly,

Sorry that you had to join the melanoma group, my melanoma also started while pregnant, I was misdiagnosed for 2 years the derm told me that there was just normal pregnancy skin changes:((…At diagnosis I had 1 micromet of 0.45mm in sentinel node with the rest of them negative. I went thru interferon with no regrets. In my case, the monster is back, but the majority of stage 3a people have better luck, so there is good chanse you will not hear melanoma word ever again! Find a good oncologist that is familiar with melanoma to monitor you! I was lucky to find the recurrence early and hopefully I will see NED on my scans soon! Congats for the pregnancy and good luck!

Dana

Hi Kelly,

Sorry that you had to join the melanoma group, my melanoma also started while pregnant, I was misdiagnosed for 2 years the derm told me that there was just normal pregnancy skin changes:((…At diagnosis I had 1 micromet of 0.45mm in sentinel node with the rest of them negative. I went thru interferon with no regrets. In my case, the monster is back, but the majority of stage 3a people have better luck, so there is good chanse you will not hear melanoma word ever again! Find a good oncologist that is familiar with melanoma to monitor you! I was lucky to find the recurrence early and hopefully I will see NED on my scans soon! Congats for the pregnancy and good luck!

Dana

Hi Kelly,

Sorry that you had to join the melanoma group, my melanoma also started while pregnant, I was misdiagnosed for 2 years the derm told me that there was just normal pregnancy skin changes:((…At diagnosis I had 1 micromet of 0.45mm in sentinel node with the rest of them negative. I went thru interferon with no regrets. In my case, the monster is back, but the majority of stage 3a people have better luck, so there is good chanse you will not hear melanoma word ever again! Find a good oncologist that is familiar with melanoma to monitor you! I was lucky to find the recurrence early and hopefully I will see NED on my scans soon! Congats for the pregnancy and good luck!

Dana

I had the mole looked at while pregnant and they told me there were "normal" pregnancy skin changes, then when my daughter was 1 I went again to the derm concerned about it , I was sent home with a prescription for Elidel for eczema, and told to come back when I decide not to have have any more babies to remove some skin tags, the mole kept changing so I went back when she was 2 and have the mole removed, at that time it was 1.5mm melanoma, nonulcerated with a mitotic rate of 2 :(((I changed the doctor and learned my lesson in a hard way!! UVA is a good place to go, you should be in good hands! Try to relax and enjoy the big moment when your daughter is born! I know is easy to say, I was and still am in panic mode! Good luck!!

Prayers

Dana

I had the mole looked at while pregnant and they told me there were "normal" pregnancy skin changes, then when my daughter was 1 I went again to the derm concerned about it , I was sent home with a prescription for Elidel for eczema, and told to come back when I decide not to have have any more babies to remove some skin tags, the mole kept changing so I went back when she was 2 and have the mole removed, at that time it was 1.5mm melanoma, nonulcerated with a mitotic rate of 2 :(((I changed the doctor and learned my lesson in a hard way!! UVA is a good place to go, you should be in good hands! Try to relax and enjoy the big moment when your daughter is born! I know is easy to say, I was and still am in panic mode! Good luck!!

Prayers

Dana

I had the mole looked at while pregnant and they told me there were "normal" pregnancy skin changes, then when my daughter was 1 I went again to the derm concerned about it , I was sent home with a prescription for Elidel for eczema, and told to come back when I decide not to have have any more babies to remove some skin tags, the mole kept changing so I went back when she was 2 and have the mole removed, at that time it was 1.5mm melanoma, nonulcerated with a mitotic rate of 2 :(((I changed the doctor and learned my lesson in a hard way!! UVA is a good place to go, you should be in good hands! Try to relax and enjoy the big moment when your daughter is born! I know is easy to say, I was and still am in panic mode! Good luck!!

Prayers

Dana

I think that is an emotionally charged time and perhaps an over reaction to the facts.  I would first have a second opinion on the pathology.  That is odd how there was this delayed pathology report.  There is no need to induce labor or do scans at this time.  Your lymph system did its job and a micro met doesn't mean you have spread.  The placenta btw, is a perfect barrier that rarely lets anything through, but again a micromet in a lymph node doesn't mean disease elsewhere.  You need to quickly switch to a melanoma expert where they will be more relaxed and knowledgeable.  Also, there is only ONE sentinel node so how could they talk about two?  Go to Sloan Kettering if you can and save yourself a lot of grief that this current group is creating.  I hope you will take a deep breath and try to get to the best expert.  

I think that is an emotionally charged time and perhaps an over reaction to the facts.  I would first have a second opinion on the pathology.  That is odd how there was this delayed pathology report.  There is no need to induce labor or do scans at this time.  Your lymph system did its job and a micro met doesn't mean you have spread.  The placenta btw, is a perfect barrier that rarely lets anything through, but again a micromet in a lymph node doesn't mean disease elsewhere.  You need to quickly switch to a melanoma expert where they will be more relaxed and knowledgeable.  Also, there is only ONE sentinel node so how could they talk about two?  Go to Sloan Kettering if you can and save yourself a lot of grief that this current group is creating.  I hope you will take a deep breath and try to get to the best expert.  

This happened to me. I was pregnant and the doctors were in a panic about the baby etc.  I ended up at UPENN where they were relaxed and assured me no chance of the baby getting the melanoma and to take a natural course of delivery and breast feed etc.  Get to a melanoma center.  PS baby and I are normal and find years later.

This happened to me. I was pregnant and the doctors were in a panic about the baby etc.  I ended up at UPENN where they were relaxed and assured me no chance of the baby getting the melanoma and to take a natural course of delivery and breast feed etc.  Get to a melanoma center.  PS baby and I are normal and find years later.

This happened to me. I was pregnant and the doctors were in a panic about the baby etc.  I ended up at UPENN where they were relaxed and assured me no chance of the baby getting the melanoma and to take a natural course of delivery and breast feed etc.  Get to a melanoma center.  PS baby and I are normal and find years later.

Your are doing the right thing, educating yourself and question everything that you don't understand. All these confusing information remind me so much of my husbands case. He also had two sentinel lymph nodes litting up, in both they found micro mets (much bigger than yours). But, in our first appointment in order to discuss the path report we were first told that nothing lit up….only 2 hours later in the preparing appointment with the surgent for wider excision he noticed that the lymph nodes were not clear…head physician just overread it. So, stick to everything you do not understand. I cross my fingers for you, Jenny

Your are doing the right thing, educating yourself and question everything that you don't understand. All these confusing information remind me so much of my husbands case. He also had two sentinel lymph nodes litting up, in both they found micro mets (much bigger than yours). But, in our first appointment in order to discuss the path report we were first told that nothing lit up….only 2 hours later in the preparing appointment with the surgent for wider excision he noticed that the lymph nodes were not clear…head physician just overread it. So, stick to everything you do not understand. I cross my fingers for you, Jenny

When the term “light up” is being used for sentinel nodes, does that mean just that they showed up as being the sentinel nodes during the lymphoscintigraphy/mapping or does that mean they are showing as having melanoma in them?

When the term “light up” is being used for sentinel nodes, does that mean just that they showed up as being the sentinel nodes during the lymphoscintigraphy/mapping or does that mean they are showing as having melanoma in them?

When the term “light up” is being used for sentinel nodes, does that mean just that they showed up as being the sentinel nodes during the lymphoscintigraphy/mapping or does that mean they are showing as having melanoma in them?

Your are doing the right thing, educating yourself and question everything that you don't understand. All these confusing information remind me so much of my husbands case. He also had two sentinel lymph nodes litting up, in both they found micro mets (much bigger than yours). But, in our first appointment in order to discuss the path report we were first told that nothing lit up….only 2 hours later in the preparing appointment with the surgent for wider excision he noticed that the lymph nodes were not clear…head physician just overread it. So, stick to everything you do not understand. I cross my fingers for you, Jenny

I think that is an emotionally charged time and perhaps an over reaction to the facts.  I would first have a second opinion on the pathology.  That is odd how there was this delayed pathology report.  There is no need to induce labor or do scans at this time.  Your lymph system did its job and a micro met doesn't mean you have spread.  The placenta btw, is a perfect barrier that rarely lets anything through, but again a micromet in a lymph node doesn't mean disease elsewhere.  You need to quickly switch to a melanoma expert where they will be more relaxed and knowledgeable.  Also, there is only ONE sentinel node so how could they talk about two?  Go to Sloan Kettering if you can and save yourself a lot of grief that this current group is creating.  I hope you will take a deep breath and try to get to the best expert.  

Darn, if it was UVA on the 19th i might get to see the new little one!  That's the date I get my next CT scan and see Dr Weiss.  Good luck.

Darn, if it was UVA on the 19th i might get to see the new little one!  That's the date I get my next CT scan and see Dr Weiss.  Good luck.

Darn, if it was UVA on the 19th i might get to see the new little one!  That's the date I get my next CT scan and see Dr Weiss.  Good luck.

Hi Kelly,  I sent you a message back.  I didn't see this before I sent it.  I hope you're staying calm and enjoying your last days of pregnancy.  My OB had asked if I wanted to be induced at 37 weeks, or wait until 39weeks.  The high risk OB was pushing for the earlier date.  My oncologist wasn't as worried and said those 2 weeks wouldn't make a big difference in my treatment.  I ended up getting induced at 37.5 weeks due to blood pressure issues.  Everything was fine with my son and my placenta was clear (they did take that and sent it out for testing to be sure).  The pediatricians know about my history and are planning to keep a closer eye on my son just to be safe.

it's going to be a busy few months while they get everything sorted out, scanned and analyzed.  The unknown is so much more stressful when you have to wait to do anything.   I know the worries.  It was 3 months between my slnb/wle and my PET scan because we had to wait for the baby to be born.  I also have no family in the area.  I had to go to my PET scan alone while my husband stayed home with the baby.

The best thing is that you know about it and the doctors will do everything they can to take care of it.  Hopefully you'll be like me and all the cells were gone after your surgery.

Hi Kelly,  I sent you a message back.  I didn't see this before I sent it.  I hope you're staying calm and enjoying your last days of pregnancy.  My OB had asked if I wanted to be induced at 37 weeks, or wait until 39weeks.  The high risk OB was pushing for the earlier date.  My oncologist wasn't as worried and said those 2 weeks wouldn't make a big difference in my treatment.  I ended up getting induced at 37.5 weeks due to blood pressure issues.  Everything was fine with my son and my placenta was clear (they did take that and sent it out for testing to be sure).  The pediatricians know about my history and are planning to keep a closer eye on my son just to be safe.

it's going to be a busy few months while they get everything sorted out, scanned and analyzed.  The unknown is so much more stressful when you have to wait to do anything.   I know the worries.  It was 3 months between my slnb/wle and my PET scan because we had to wait for the baby to be born.  I also have no family in the area.  I had to go to my PET scan alone while my husband stayed home with the baby.

The best thing is that you know about it and the doctors will do everything they can to take care of it.  Hopefully you'll be like me and all the cells were gone after your surgery.

Hi Kelly,  I sent you a message back.  I didn't see this before I sent it.  I hope you're staying calm and enjoying your last days of pregnancy.  My OB had asked if I wanted to be induced at 37 weeks, or wait until 39weeks.  The high risk OB was pushing for the earlier date.  My oncologist wasn't as worried and said those 2 weeks wouldn't make a big difference in my treatment.  I ended up getting induced at 37.5 weeks due to blood pressure issues.  Everything was fine with my son and my placenta was clear (they did take that and sent it out for testing to be sure).  The pediatricians know about my history and are planning to keep a closer eye on my son just to be safe.

it's going to be a busy few months while they get everything sorted out, scanned and analyzed.  The unknown is so much more stressful when you have to wait to do anything.   I know the worries.  It was 3 months between my slnb/wle and my PET scan because we had to wait for the baby to be born.  I also have no family in the area.  I had to go to my PET scan alone while my husband stayed home with the baby.

The best thing is that you know about it and the doctors will do everything they can to take care of it.  Hopefully you'll be like me and all the cells were gone after your surgery.