Apologies if I am posting this twice – I don't see my earlier post and so am thinking I may not have done it correctly.
My husband had a melanoma on the bottom of his foot, mestases in lymph nodes, all removed in October. He was in screening for an interferon/ipi randomized trial, but a December PET showed more cancer. He's just had surgery for removal of expansive melanoma in the groin area as well as a new spot on his foot. I'm not sure if he is still Stage III or is now considered Stage IV.
Our surgeon and local medical oncologist are referring us to a specialist at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. I can see that they have a clinic that is totally focused on melanoma – does that mean it is a Center of Excellence?
At this point, we don't know what our options are. Ipi looks like the best best (He was tested for BRAF but does not have the gene). But are hoping we are going to a true Center of Excellence and not sure how to determine that. I see that UCSF also has a melanoma clinic in San Francisco.
We are in Sacramento, and with the problems of lymphedema we are trying to manage, at this point getting on an airplane is not a very viable option.
