› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Need help and support: possible Stage 4 progression
- This topic has 9 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 3 months ago by
arthurjedi007.
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- January 10, 2015 at 3:57 pm
I was first diagnosed with melanoma Stage 1b in 2004 (Breslow 0.44 mm, but had few mitoses, so was restaged from 1a to 1b when the new classification came in) treated with WLE. About a month ago, I started to have upper/middle back pain, which I thought was due to a poor posture. It was sort of migrating from between the shoulders to the sides, upper part of the back etc. It is tolerable, and I don't take any pain killers. I don't have a pain at night and hot shower provided some relief.
Because of my melanoma history, I am always hypersensitive to any pain and I saw the PCP for the piece of mind. She sent me for PT and upon my request/insistance to get an X-rays of thoracisc spine, which showed a compression fracture at T8 level. She now wants me to test for osteoporosis, but I am scared to death about a possibility of metastatic spread. I am 43 years old woman and how likely it could be osteoporotic fracture??? Well, I have certain risk factors: use of Mirena, low weight, lack of excersise, perodic use of high doses of proton pump inhibitors (due to acidic reflux), maybe low Vit D… I pray that this is osteoporosis, but I am trying to understand what I have to do in a worse case scenario. I don't have an oncologist (I live in Boston) because I only saw a dermatologist all these years. How do you get strenght to go through Stage 4 treatment? I have 2 kids age 8 and 10 and I afraid that I will never see them grow up. Having Stage 4 diagnosis is like a death sentence to me. I'll appreciate any support and help. Thank you for listening.
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- January 10, 2015 at 5:10 pm
It doesn't sound like there is any reason to suspect melanoma here and much more reason to suspect osteoporosis as you have many risk factors. Sometimes, it's good NOT to jump to conclusions. I'd wait for the outcome of the osteoporosis tests before you start imagining stage IV melanoma. Your lesion was very small ten years ago and it is still unlikely that you would jump directly to stage IV this far out. Go with the most obvious explanation first and let your doctor guide your testing. BTW, stage IV is NOT a death sentence. Several new drugs approved in the last few years – many more options now.
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- January 10, 2015 at 5:10 pm
It doesn't sound like there is any reason to suspect melanoma here and much more reason to suspect osteoporosis as you have many risk factors. Sometimes, it's good NOT to jump to conclusions. I'd wait for the outcome of the osteoporosis tests before you start imagining stage IV melanoma. Your lesion was very small ten years ago and it is still unlikely that you would jump directly to stage IV this far out. Go with the most obvious explanation first and let your doctor guide your testing. BTW, stage IV is NOT a death sentence. Several new drugs approved in the last few years – many more options now.
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- January 10, 2015 at 5:10 pm
It doesn't sound like there is any reason to suspect melanoma here and much more reason to suspect osteoporosis as you have many risk factors. Sometimes, it's good NOT to jump to conclusions. I'd wait for the outcome of the osteoporosis tests before you start imagining stage IV melanoma. Your lesion was very small ten years ago and it is still unlikely that you would jump directly to stage IV this far out. Go with the most obvious explanation first and let your doctor guide your testing. BTW, stage IV is NOT a death sentence. Several new drugs approved in the last few years – many more options now.
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- January 11, 2015 at 4:51 am
I often have a similar type of back pain from too many hours in front of a computer screen. I don't have melanoma (yet!) — it's my poor dad who has it. As the others have said, don't jump ahead and bury yourself just yet; it really does sound like you simply have back issues, which all of us can experience from time to time for a whole variety of reasons. Relax, and good luck!
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- January 11, 2015 at 4:51 am
I often have a similar type of back pain from too many hours in front of a computer screen. I don't have melanoma (yet!) — it's my poor dad who has it. As the others have said, don't jump ahead and bury yourself just yet; it really does sound like you simply have back issues, which all of us can experience from time to time for a whole variety of reasons. Relax, and good luck!
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- January 11, 2015 at 4:51 am
I often have a similar type of back pain from too many hours in front of a computer screen. I don't have melanoma (yet!) — it's my poor dad who has it. As the others have said, don't jump ahead and bury yourself just yet; it really does sound like you simply have back issues, which all of us can experience from time to time for a whole variety of reasons. Relax, and good luck!
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- January 11, 2015 at 5:10 pm
Like the others said the back issue could be caused by many things. I'm stage 4 for over 18 months. I would suggest your doc do a CT scan of thst region just to be on the safe side like they told me. I had been misdiagnosed for 9 months and yeah the physical therapy that didn't help the X-ray thst really didn't shiw much and all that. Finally the CT showed the t10 issue otherwise I would not have gotten the treatments I needed. Pd1 is awesome. That being said though I would be surprised if you have Mel there but to be on the safe side a Ct or Mri will show. An X-ray will not at least in my case.
One thing you can start doing is taking vitamin d3 supplements. Also vitamin k2 if you can find it. Not k but k2 which is for the bones. Also to prevent the fracture from causing serious problems you might want to talk to your doc about bone strengtheners. I'm on xgeva and there is a stronger zelboraf but I think these are only for cancer but they have others for non cancer.
So hopefully you just have a non Mel back issue. Scary enough in its own way.
Good luck.
Artie
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- January 11, 2015 at 5:10 pm
Like the others said the back issue could be caused by many things. I'm stage 4 for over 18 months. I would suggest your doc do a CT scan of thst region just to be on the safe side like they told me. I had been misdiagnosed for 9 months and yeah the physical therapy that didn't help the X-ray thst really didn't shiw much and all that. Finally the CT showed the t10 issue otherwise I would not have gotten the treatments I needed. Pd1 is awesome. That being said though I would be surprised if you have Mel there but to be on the safe side a Ct or Mri will show. An X-ray will not at least in my case.
One thing you can start doing is taking vitamin d3 supplements. Also vitamin k2 if you can find it. Not k but k2 which is for the bones. Also to prevent the fracture from causing serious problems you might want to talk to your doc about bone strengtheners. I'm on xgeva and there is a stronger zelboraf but I think these are only for cancer but they have others for non cancer.
So hopefully you just have a non Mel back issue. Scary enough in its own way.
Good luck.
Artie
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- January 11, 2015 at 5:10 pm
Like the others said the back issue could be caused by many things. I'm stage 4 for over 18 months. I would suggest your doc do a CT scan of thst region just to be on the safe side like they told me. I had been misdiagnosed for 9 months and yeah the physical therapy that didn't help the X-ray thst really didn't shiw much and all that. Finally the CT showed the t10 issue otherwise I would not have gotten the treatments I needed. Pd1 is awesome. That being said though I would be surprised if you have Mel there but to be on the safe side a Ct or Mri will show. An X-ray will not at least in my case.
One thing you can start doing is taking vitamin d3 supplements. Also vitamin k2 if you can find it. Not k but k2 which is for the bones. Also to prevent the fracture from causing serious problems you might want to talk to your doc about bone strengtheners. I'm on xgeva and there is a stronger zelboraf but I think these are only for cancer but they have others for non cancer.
So hopefully you just have a non Mel back issue. Scary enough in its own way.
Good luck.
Artie
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